


Life as We Know it

by Rearviewdreamer



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Blind Date, Bottom Harry, First Date, Friends to Lovers, If you've seen the movie then you know, Kid Fic, M/M, Movie Adaptation, Semi-minor Character deaths?, Top Louis, there's a bit of angst but it's short-lived
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 12:37:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5540228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rearviewdreamer/pseuds/Rearviewdreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a couple dies unexpectedly Harry and Louis are brought together to care for their daughter.</p><p> </p><p>This work has been translated to Spanish by the wonderful happydaysbus1</p><p>https://my.w.tt/UiNb/UIjocPwDxJ</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [andthetreewashappy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/andthetreewashappy/gifts).



 

 

Summer 2012

The doorbell rings just in time to save Harry from yet another outfit change. It’s not that he’s indecisive or anything, he just really wants to wear something that he looks good in, that _Louis_ will think he looks good in, because according to Liam and Niall their matchmaking skills are unparalleled, and tonight could be the start of something really great between them, so Harry needs to look the part.

He’s consulting the mirror hanging on his living room wall when the doorbell rings for a second time.

Harry checks the time on his phone and cuts his eyes over at the door. Ringing the bell twice in under a minute is a bit much for someone who should’ve technically been here an hour ago, but Harry won’t let himself nit-pick his date or his lack of time management since he hasn’t even met him yet. He’s sure Louis is just nervous, just like him.

Harry smoothes his hands over the front of his floral printed button down and the dark jacket he decided to throw on at the last minute. His black jeans are the nicest pair that he owns and just so happen to hug every curve of his lower body so perfectly that the muscles of his thighs are on display with every step that he takes. The boots he has chosen are understated so that he looks casual enough for a first date, and although he spent literal _ages_ with a bottle of expensive mousse to get his curls to fall just right, he hopes Louis will think he is an effortless beauty; a vision even.

When he has worked up the courage, Harry opens the door with an easy smile. It dies a horrible death because Louis Tomlinson is wearing sweatpants.

He shoves his phone into the pocket of the very half-arsed fashion choice and smiles up at Harry with a head of hair that he didn’t even attempt to fix and enough stubble along his jawline that Harry can tell he hasn’t picked up a razor in at least three days.

“Hiya, mate.”

Harry has to make himself focus on something other than the beat up Converse shoes on his feet in order to respond.

“Uh, hello. I’m Harry.”

Louis steps forward to shake his hand, displaying a golden arm littered with tattoos. His outfit is the worst first date ensemble that Harry has ever seen, but his eyes and the tattoos; Harry can get on board with those.

“I’m Tommo,” he introduces himself.

Harry frowns. “Wait. Y-You’re who?”

“Tommo,” he explains. “That’s what everyone calls me. My full name is Louis Tomlinson, but why bother with all that?”

Harry blinks at him in silence, because _what?_

“Right,” he answers dryly as _Tommo’s_ phone vibrates in his pocket as they stand there in the doorway. Surprisingly he doesn’t reach for it.

“Well, _Louis_ , since we’re running a bit late do you think we’ll make our reservation? Did you call somewhere else just in case?”

“Oh, uh…was I supposed to do that?” he frowns. “I didn’t know, Niall never said-”

Harry cuts him off, “Oh, no. It’s totally fine.” It is _not_ totally fine. “We can go anywhere,” he says as calm and easygoing as he can manage.

Harry closes the door behind him and locks it without even giving his date time to agree. His phone vibrates again on their way out to the curb, and again, Harry is shocked he hasn’t answered it since he can see his hand fidgeting like it’s all he can think about.

All of the cars along the street are familiar. They belong to his neighbors, and of course Harry’s is there as well, but he doesn’t see one that Louis might’ve driven here in. Based on his appearance he’s scared to see the piece of machinery if he’s honest.

They stop in front of a motorcycle and Harry feels his stomach plummet down to his understated Chelsea boots.

“Here we are,” Louis chirps as he hands him a helmet. Harry instinctively reaches for his seemingly effortless (absolutely fucking _perfect_ ) hair. Louis throws a leg over the bike and gestures for Harry to hop on the back as he dislodges the kick stand.

“I uh, I- this is… _nice_ ,” Harry settles on in what he hopes is a convincing tone.

Louis’ eyes light up from the compliment. “You think so? I fucking _love_ this bike. I got it about a year ago. Best decision I’ve _ever_ made.”

“Wow. That’s _great_. Amazing, really,” Harry nods along, “I’ll drive.”

Louis gives him a look like he’d rather have his skin melted off than let someone drive his motorcycle. “My _car,_ Louis. I meant I’ll drive us in my car,” he clarifies when Louis looks like he may pass out.

Louis lets out a huge breath and visibly relaxes. “Oh. Well, only if you’re sure.”

Harry has never been more sure of anything in his life.

Louis places the two helmets back on the handle bars and follows Harry to his car. They get in and he doesn’t even turn the engine before Louis’ phone vibrates again, and because whoever it is refuses to give it a fucking rest already, the person calls as well, causing a loud ringtone to blare out from Louis’ pocket. His fingers twitch like he’s just dying to grab it.

“You can answer it. I don’t mind.”

Louis looks unsure if he should, but then he’s grinning, clearly relieved that Harry is giving him the okay. “Thanks. I’ll be really quick, I swear.”

He digs his phone out, accidentally flashing the screen in Harry’s direction. Apparently, someone called Nathan is an impatient fuck. He greets Nathan with a bright, “Hi there,” and the car is so quiet that Harry can hear the man asking Louis to come over. “I can’t right now,” Louis politely declines. “…I’m kind of in the middle of something.” Nathan asks what could be more important than his roommate being gone for the night and them having the house all to themselves, and Louis cuts his eyes over at Harry to find him blankly staring back. “Uh…it’s just this thing I’m busy with, but uh, I can always stop by later if you need me to.”

Nathan tells him that he _always_ needs Louis to come over and sort him out, and Harry would throw up if he had any food in his stomach, but that would mean that Louis had arrived for their date on time and actually made a fucking dinner reservation like a normal person. Louis promises Nathan that he’ll stop by later when he’s free.

Unbelievable. Harry doesn’t know why he’s even surprised at this point.

He hangs up and pockets the phone again and turns to Harry with a handsomely charming smile that might’ve gotten him exactly what Nathan just offered had he not been a complete and utter arsehole.

“You can go.”

Louis’ eyebrows scrunch together. “Go where?”

“To Nathan’s or wherever else you’d rather be than here on this date. Honestly, I don’t mind.”

Louis goes to protest, but Harry gives him a look that says save it, because who are they kidding here?

“But Niall and Liam set this whole thing up. Don’t we _have_ to go out, like on principle or something?”

“No. We really, really don’t. They thought we’d be a good fit. It’s obvious that we’re not, so.”

Louis narrows his eyes at him like maybe it’s a trap, but then a genuine smile spreads across his face from being released from the obligation of entertaining Harry all night.

“Thank God! I don’t know what they were thinking, you know? You’re really hot, like insanely so, so I can see why they thought we’d hit it off, but other than looks we’re complete opposites in every other sense.”

Harry shakes his head, amazed that Louis just managed to compliment Harry and himself in the same breath. At least the two of them being wrong for each other is one thing they can agree on.

“It was nice to meet you,” Harry says as Louis opens the door and climbs out. “Have fun with Nathan,” he mumbles mostly to no one, but Louis catches it anyway.

“Yeah, mate, thanks so much!” he beams, clearly elated at this unexpected turn of events. “I can see why Liam and Niall like you so much. You’re really cool. I’ll see you around, Harry.”

Harry gets out of the car and watches as Louis straddles his bike. He doesn’t even wait until Harry is back inside before he’s ringing Nathan back. Harry only hears part of the conversation, but from what he gathers there is definitely going to be sex, and Harry isn’t going to be the one having it.

Louis shoves the phone back in his pocket and speeds off down the street. Harry stares after him, only half convinced he was even real.

Harry waits until he can no longer hear the engine of the bike before he digs his own phone out of his pocket. Liam answers on the second ring.

“Harry! How was it? Tell me everything!”

“It won’t take long,” Harry warns. “He showed up wearing sweatpants, insisted that I call him _Tommo_ , tried to put me on the back of his motorcycle, and he just left to go fuck Needy Nathan because his roommate’s gone for the night. Oh, and he said I was _cool._ ”

There’s complete and utter silence on the other end as Liam processes, and then a loud, “He _what?!_ ”

“Yeah…” Harry chuckles. He doesn’t quite see the humor in the situation just yet, but he knows that later he will. He’ll probably laugh about this night for the rest of his life. “Just so we’re clear, you and Niall may have turned out to be the world’s most perfect couple, but I think that’s about as far as your combined matchmaking skills go.”

“Oh my God,” Liam sounds aghast on the other end of the phone as he relays the message to Niall.  “Niall wants to know if he was at least on time?”

Harry bends over and laughs so loud that the sound ricochets and echoes off of the surrounding houses.

*

Louis drinks down the last of his beer and throws the bottle into the bin by the kitchen door. He’s already heading to the refrigerator to get another when a familiar deep voice speaks up out of nowhere.

“They have a recycling bin, you know.”

Louis turns to him with a tight-lipped grin. “Maybe I don’t care about recycling. You ever think of that?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it,” Harry laughs to himself. “If you don’t care about basic hygiene then why in the world would I expect you to care about the environment?” he smirks.

Louis snorts at that. “I showered before I came here and I drive a motorcycle. I obviously care about the environment.”

Harry’s laugh is sarcastic when he glances back at him. “You care about what your arse looks like straddled over it and how many men are around to see it.”

He’s not wrong, Louis smiles to himself as he watches Harry refilling the guacamole bowl and grabbing some napkins for the rest of Niall and Liam’s guests. His eyes travel down the length of Harry’s incredibly fit, long legs. He’s high strung and neurotic as hell, but the boy always did know how to pick a good pair of jeans. Louis responds a couple of beats too late.

“Noticed my arse have you? Then my evil plan must be working.”

“ _You_ making a plan?” Harry laughs. He turns and catches Louis’ eyes on him. Louis doesn’t pretend like he wasn’t looking. “Why are you even here?”

Actually, Niall was Louis’ best mate way before Harry and Liam were friends. He has more right to here than Harry if they’re being technical.

“They’re my friends too. It’s their housewarming party. Did you really think I wasn’t going to come?”

“Oh, I know for a fact that one way or another you always _come_ ,” Harry smirks, “Which is why I enjoy our little chats. They remind me how glad I am that you left our date to go have sex with somebody else.”

Louis has to bite down on a smirk of his own. “Aw, you’re still bitter about that, love? I did apologize...I think.”

Louis isn’t the beacon of integrity, but looking back on that shit storm of a date still makes him laugh. He honestly has no idea what the hell Niall and Liam were thinking trying to set them up.

The two men in question come strolling into their brand new kitchen, hand in hand as they greet their two best mates.

Niall smacks a loud kiss to the side of Louis’ head as soon as he’s close enough.

“What are you two chatting about all alone in here?” he asks.

“Missed connections,” Louis answers.

Harry scoffs at that and gains Liam’s attention. Liam pats Louis on the shoulder before walking over to help Harry carry the food out to the other guests.

Louis doesn’t miss the way Harry’s eyes roll at him when they walk past. Niall watches it all play out with a wistful grin.

“You two are hilarious. You two could’ve been golden if your lazy arse didn’t show up at his door wearing fucking pajamas.”

“The Tommo and Harry Frowns-a-lot; the great love story that never was,” he laments.

They both laugh as Niall hands him a new beer. The four of them have been laughing at his and Harry’s failure of a blind date for the past few months. Time passing hasn’t made it any less funny.

“Be nice to him,” Niall says as he nudges Louis in the arm, “And for fuck’s sake put your bottles in the recycling bin. Liam will lose his shit if he finds out you’re tossing them in with the regular garbage.”

Louis rolls his eyes. He’s always nice to Harry, and since when does Niall give a fuck about the environment?

“You suddenly care about recycling?” Louis teases. “Niall, what’s happened to you?”

“No. I don’t give a shit about recycling, but Liam does, and I care about him, so, just do what he says, yeah?”

Louis can’t believe how ridiculously in love they are. Luckily they’re cute and not too disgusting about it. 


	2. Chapter 2

Winter 2012

“Slide in just a bit closer, you two. Yeah just like that. Perfect!”  The photographer says as he takes another burst of photos. The flashes stop and suddenly Harry can’t move quick enough to pull away from Louis’ side.

“Oh- hey guys, wait a minute. One of you blinked. We have to do it again.”

Harry takes a very measured breath before forcing himself back to where he and Louis have been posing on the steps of the church for the last twenty minutes. At first it was kind of funny each time Louis did something stupid to sabotage Liam and Niall’s wedding photos. It’s been a fun day filled with laughter and the two best men actually getting along for the most part, but now the joke is getting old and Harry is about thirty seconds from shoving Louis face first into the snow.  He would’ve done it already if not for the two grooms smiling and waving at them from where they’re watching like excited parents.

“It’s freezing out here, Louis. Stop joking around.”

Louis raises an eyebrow at him. “I didn’t do anything that time. I didn’t even blink. It was probably you,” he snorts.

“Yeah, right,” Harry says, plastering himself to Louis’ side once more and smiling as wide and happy as humanly possible. “Smile like you mean it,” Harry says through gritted teeth.

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

Louis’ elbow nudges him in the ribs just as the flash goes off, causing the photographer to capture Harry just as he staggers on the steps. Louis at least has the decency to reach for him and make sure he doesn’t break his neck before he bursts out in a fit of uncontrollable giggles.

Harry snatches his arm away as soon as he’s standing straight up again, but it only makes Louis laugh harder.

“Oh Harry, come on, love, I didn’t mean it!”

Louis gives him that sparkly smile he sometimes wears when he’s trying to get his way about something. It only makes Harry’s urge to hold him down in the snow that much stronger.

“Don’t call me that,” he snaps.

“Oi, you two! Stop flirting. It’s freezing out here!” Liam yells from where he’s warmly tucked into Niall’s side. If they didn’t look so bloody happy Harry would shout about how stupid it is to get married in the dead of fucking winter in the first place. He keeps his mouth shut like a good best man, and sidles next to Louis for what has to be the hundredth time as they pose and Harry tries not to murder him where they stand.

It takes another few minutes, but finally they get a photo in which neither of them is sneezing, coughing, blinking, yawning, or falling down the frozen staircase beneath them. Harry’s grin is strained, his whole body tense from the cold and from the stress of aiding his two best friends on the most important day of their lives, and even though Louis is a best man as well, somehow his smile is as carefree as the day they met.

 

Fall 2013

“I can’t believe you two are going to be _dads_. It’s so weird to think about,” Louis says as he takes another long sip from his beer.

“I know, right?” Niall laughs. “I keep saying it over and over in my head and it still sounds insane! I can’t wait though.”

Louis can remember when Niall and Liam first started going out. He remembers when they bought this huge fucking house and how just over six months ago they said ‘I do’ in the small church downtown. It feels like they’ve been married for _years_.

“Do you think we’ll be good dads?” Niall asks, sounding a bit unsure. Louis has no doubt that he and Liam will be the best parents in the whole world.

“You’ll be amazing. Both of you. This baby will be the most loved child ever. ”

“Yeah, you’re right, especially with you as a godparent. He’ll need someone other than me to corrupt him, and who’d do the job better than my best mate?”

Louis never cries, but he feels an odd sort of tingling at the back of his throat when Niall squeezes his arm.

“M- Me? Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure,” he laughs. “You don’t want the job?”

“Well, yeah. I mean... I think so. What do I have to do exactly?”

“You don’t have to _do_ anything. Just spoil my kid, show up for birthdays and shit, and babysit him every once in a while when Li and I want to have sex without him in the house.”

Louis shudders at that last bit, but other than that, it sounds pretty easy; it sounds lovely. He can’t believe Niall wants to include him in his child’s life.

“I can’t believe I’m going to be a godparent. I’ll be like _The_ _Godfather_. That’s so sick!”

Niall’s eyes light up too when he makes the connection.

“That _is_ awesome… except without the mafia and murder and all that shit. I don’t think that’s really applicable here.”

“Well, obviously,” Louis rolls his eyes.

*

“Y-You want me to be your child’s godfather? Like, you want me to be in your child’s life? Li, I- I don’t know what to say. That’s huge!”

“Say yes, you idiot,” he laughs. “Me and Niall’s parents aren’t alive so our children won’t have any grandparents to buy them ridiculous stuff and talk them into staying up past their bedtime. I want our baby to have the best life, so that’s where you come in.”

Harry doesn’t know what to say. He’s never been more honored.

“I’d _love_ to spoil your kid. Nothing would make me happier.”

“I’m so glad to hear it, Haz. You and Louis will make _fantastic_ godparents.”

The balloon of pride in Harry’s chest deflates.

“Me _and_ Louis?”

“Well yeah... You’re me and Ni’s two best mates. You were both our best men. It only seems fitting for you both to share the role of godfather as well.”

So this moment isn’t as sweet as it had been about thirty seconds ago, but Harry guesses he should’ve seen this coming since his and Louis’ lives seem to circle around one another like two planets orbiting the same bad date that won’t ever end.

Being asked to love Liam and Niall’s child is still an honor, with or without Louis sharing his title. It’s not like Louis would be responsible or mature enough to take something like this seriously anyway.

“So,” Harry smiles at his best friend, “Do you and Niall want to adopt a boy or a girl?”


	3. Chapter 3

Summer 2014

Liam and Niall get to bring Sophie home when she’s just over a month old. Louis knew seeing his best friends becoming parents would be something, but he never anticipated how amazing it would be to witness. It’s like Niall and Liam were made to be parents. Even when they fuck up and do something wrong they take it in their stride, smiling and learning as they go and just making it look so easy.

Watching them with Sophie makes Louis want to be better too. He wants to be better for her; a godfather that she can be proud of. He helps out whenever he’s asked and actually enjoys it, even when she’s gross or screaming her head off. Louis never saw himself as the paternal type before, but he feels it whenever he’s with her and he wants to prove to himself to that he can do it.

He gets his opportunity one night when Liam and Niall ask him to baby sit so they can have their first date night in over three months. He shows up at their door, with energy thrumming through him. It dissipates when the door swings open to reveal Harry.

“You’re actually on time.”

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“You didn’t really think they’d trust you to watch Sophie all by yourself did you?”

Yes, actually, he did expect that. He thought he had proven himself over all of these months.

He can hear Niall and Liam coming down the steps. Niall swings the door wider and yanks Louis inside.

“You’re both here!” Liam cheers.

“Yeah,” Louis grits out when Niall pulls him into a bear grip of a hug. “ _Both_ of us…funny that.”

Harry grins where he’s now sitting down at the base of the stairs.

Niall ruffles his hair. “Aw, come on Tommo. It’s our first night out since Sophie and the two of you get to show off your babysitting skills. You’ll be fine. It’s like half the work if you both do it.”

Liam smiles at him in that kind, easy way that he does to put people at ease. “Yeah, Louis. Sophie is a lot of work when she’s awake. It’ll take _both_ of her godparents to take care of her.”

“Yeah, Louis. It’ll take _both_ of us. Like a _team_ ,” Harry pipes up from the stairs.

Louis usually enjoys the cheek from Harry. It keeps him on his toes, but right now it’s just annoying.

“Shut up, Harry.”

“Hey, none of that,” Niall chastises them. “Sophie loves you both and the two of you love her more than anything, so suck it up, settle in, and keep our kid alive for a few hours.”

They leave the house fifteen minutes later after going through a list that’s at least twenty bullets long. He and Harry wish them a fun night and close the door behind them.

There’s nothing but silence when they’re gone since Sophie is asleep up in the nursery. Louis’ plan had been to hang out on the couch and watch over his goddaughter, and he’s sticking to that plan.

“W-Where are you going?” Harry asks when Louis suddenly leaves their little awkward bubble in front of the stairs.

“Niall and Liam own every Marvel movie ever made. I’m going to watch Iron Man until Sophie wakes up.”

“Oh.” Harry stands there for a few more seconds before heading in the opposite direction towards the kitchen. “I’ll make snacks, then. I love Iron Man.”

Louis rolls his eyes when Harry comes to sit next to him, his lanky limbs taking up over half of the space on the loveseat. Louis has half a mind to shove him off, but he’s carrying a tray full of cookies and caramel drizzled popcorn, so Louis won’t complain.

It’s nearly an hour later when Sophie’s sleepy whimpers come through on the baby monitor. Louis hops up and heads straight for the stairs, leaving Harry there to pause the movie and fumble with the food.

“Wait for me!”

Louis rolls his eyes. It’s not like he actually _needs_ Harry’s help. He can take care of Sophie on his own.

He walks into the nursery and finds Sophie fussing in her crib. Her face is all scrunched up and pink like she’s about to really start crying. Louis gets to her before she does.

“Oh, don’t cry, love. Here, I’ve got you,” Louis coos as he picks her up. He’s cradling her against his chest when Harry comes in with Liam and Niall’s list.

“Li says she ate about three hours ago, so she’s probably hungry. Here, let me have her.”

Louis frowns as Harry tries to pluck Sophie right out of his arms.

“She’s fine with me holding her.”

“Well, she needs to eat and _I_ have her bottle,” Harry argues.

They have a stare off for a long while. Louis hates to give Harry what he wants, but he has the fucking bottle and, well, Sophie kind of needs that.

They end up sharing the duty. Louis feeds her one half of the bottle and then Harry gets to feed her the second half. They head back downstairs once she’s sleeping soundly again, but Louis isn’t as bubbly as he had been earlier in the night.

“That list...” Louis asks once they’re settled back on the couch. “Did Liam and Niall write instructions on how to burp her as well?”

“No. I’ve seen them both do it a million times. I just knew.”

Louis hadn’t known to do that. He would’ve just put her back in her crib. He hates to say it, but Harry being here might not have been such a bad idea after all. She might’ve choked had it not been for him.

“What?” Harry asks him when Louis gets quiet. He turns to him with that kind, open expression he always wears. It’s those innocent eyes that always make Louis feel bad for all the times he’s ever been a dick to Harry, and tonight it just makes him feel worse.

“I didn’t know to do that,” Louis admits.

“You would’ve remembered.”

Louis knows that he wouldn’t have, but he guesses that’s why Sophie needs two godfathers instead of just one.

Liam and Niall return just before midnight looking more refreshed than Louis has seen them in weeks. They’re hand in hand and pink in the face for reasons Louis never wishes to know, but they look good. They look happy.

“Well, look who’s awake!” Liam gushes when they walk in to find the three of them on the couch watching Iron Man 2. He reaches for his daughter and holds her close as he explains how he and her dad didn’t have any fun at all because they missed her so much.

Louis snorts a laugh. “Really? Your zipper’s still down. Looks like you had too much fun if you ask me.”

Niall flicks him in the ear. “Shut it, Tommo. We’re parents now. We gotta get it in when we can.” He comes to talk to Sophie over Liam’s shoulder and it makes Louis’ heart warm. He glances over at Harry to see him wearing an identical expression of fondness as he watches them.

Niall looks at the state of their living room. There’s drink cans and snack food strewn across the coffee table and floor.

“So what’d you two do all night? Movie date?” he smirks.

Harry rolls his eyes. “I thought we agreed to never mention us and the word date in the same sentence ever again.”

Louis had been feeling pretty down, but that drags a smile out of him. Harry still hates reliving that night. Louis still thinks it’s hilarious.

They walk out together, wishing Liam and Niall a goodnight. Harry laughs when they come up on Louis’ bike.

“You’re still driving this thing around, huh?”

Louis grabs his helmet and slips it on over his head. “Of course,” he smiles as he throws a leg over it. “The Tommo-cycle is my signature.”

Harry laughs at him again. He’s always doing that.

“Well, drive safe. I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, Harry. I’ll see you later,” he says just before kicking off and out of the drive way.

*

Time flies by and before Harry knows it Sophie is turning a year old. Liam and Niall always did love a party, so they throw their daughter a massive one to mark the occasion. It’s a day centered around Sophie, her family, and everyone else that has fallen in love with her since the day they brought her home.

The mood is so joyous and happy that it turns out to be a magical day for everyone including her two godparents who don’t even protest when they’re asked to pose for pictures together.

“Aww, look at the two of you smiling and pretending to actually like each other. How sweet,” Niall smirks as he snaps yet another photo.

Liam pokes him in the side.

“Oh, leave them alone,” he laughs. “They’re getting along for once. You’re gonna jinx it.”

“I’m gonna drop that camera in the toilet if you two don’t hurry up with these pictures,” Louis threatens through a dazzling white smile.

Usually Harry would speak up to tell him to stop being rude and just pose for the damn picture, but his back hurts from being hunched over this way in order to fit into the frame. It’s a rare situation, but right now Harry completely agrees with him.

“This position is torture on my spine,” he complains, feeling a new pinch in his lower back. Harry instantly regrets saying it out loud when Louis tilts his head towards him.

“And which _positions_ do you prefer exactly?” Louis purrs with his arm still around Harry’s shoulder with Sophie between them, happily shoving handfuls of cake into her mouth.

“You missed your chance to find out, so you’ll never know,” Harry quips through a tight grin.

“Never say never, darling.”

Liam overhears their conversation and grimaces as he snaps another picture.

“Stop being gross. My daughter’s trying to eat.”

“To be fair, most of the cake is in her ears and her hair,” Louis chuckles. Harry wants nothing more than to strangle Louis with balloon ribbon, but he can’t help but to laugh along when Sophie grabs a new glob of cake and most of it ends up on her face rather than in her mouth.

“Stop laughing at my kid,” Niall frowns at them. “She’s cute.”

“She’s gross,” Louis insists as he turns his nose up at the mush between her fingers, “But you’re right, she _is_ the cutest!” he coos. Harry is both shocked and disgusted when Louis bends down to smack a kiss to her chocolatey face without a second thought.

That’s definitely something he wouldn’t have pictured Louis doing a couple of years ago. To be honest, he didn’t even think Louis would take being a godfather as seriously as he does, but he has been present for every milestone in Sophie’s life thus far. Harry guesses it’s proof that somewhere underneath all of that annoyingly loud ego and arrogance there’s an actual mature adult in there. _Somewhere._

Harry sighs with relief when Niall and Liam release them from photograph hell.

He stands up straight to relieve his back and Louis chooses that exact moment to take soggy cake from Sophie’s hands and smear it across Harry’s new shirt and claim it was an accident.

Harry takes a few measured breaths and kindly steps away from his goddaughter before shoving several handfuls of mush and icing into Louis’ smug fucking face.

The fallout is brutal and Niall snaps a million pictures to capture it all.

*

The two of them get put on babysitting duty again a couple of weeks later when Liam and Niall go out for another date night. Louis had originally declined because he had other plans, but something about missing out on a night of squabbling with Harry and cuddling Sophie through a Marvel movie just felt wrong. He knows he’s made the right choice when Sophie wets her diaper through and gets piss all over Harry’s jeans. God, he loves that girl.

Louis finds him at the bathroom sink wiping furiously at a stain that has been gone for at least thirty minutes with how long he’s been scrubbing.

“You’ll wear a hole in them if you keep at it like that…or _more_ holes in them, I should say.”

Harry’s gaze is fierce when he glares up at him. Louis laughs at his distressed expression. He always takes everything so bloody seriously.

“Shut up. You wouldn’t be laughing if she’d done it to you.”

Louis gasps with a hand over his heart.  

“She would _never_. Sophie adores me.”

“Well, Sophie’s parents owe me a new outfit whenever they get their arses back here,” Harry grumbles.

Louis checks the time again. It’s a little past midnight, but it’s not like Liam and Niall have never been a bit late before. They were so excited to get out of the house tonight that they practically ran out the front door.

Louis feels bad raining on their date night parade. He’ll give them a few more minutes of freedom.

“They’ll be back soon,” Louis assures Harry as he rinses his towel and begins another round of intense cleansing.

It’s nearing one in the morning when Louis and Harry call and leave a message to remind their friends that, hey, having sex in a car is cool and all, but he and Harry have lives they’d like to live as well. Neither of them calls back. They alternate sending them annoying texts to try and get them to answer, but they don’t receive anything in return.

They don’t know the name of the restaurant they went to so they can’t call and ask when they left, and even if they did it’s sure to be closed by now. It’s after two when Harry suggests that they crash there for the night until Niall and Liam decide to drag their sorry arses back home.

Louis agrees to the sleepover. He doesn’t mind staying overnight to watch Sophie, but something doesn’t sit right in his stomach with how uncharacteristically late his friends are.

Louis shoots up from the couch when the doorbell rings and snatches him out of the dream he was having. He hears Harry grumbling where he’s stretched out on the floor with a decorative pillow tucked under his head.

Louis pulls his phone out of his pocket to check the time. _Three- forty one in the bloody morning._

“It’s about fucking time,” Harry complains, but he makes no attempt to actually move and answer the door.

Louis goes instead since Harry is useless. His stomach drops when he opens the door to find two police officers on the front porch rather than Liam and Niall.

Harry stumbles over to welcome their friends inside. His sleepy grin slides right off of his face when he sees the two men in uniform standing before him.

“What’s going on?” he asks, suddenly looking very much awake.

“Is this the residence of Liam and Niall Horan?” one of them asks.

Silence stretches for a long while before Harry answers. “Is something wrong?”

The officers share a somber look that makes the corners of Louis’ eyes sting.

Harry is answering the officers’ questions with questions of his own. They ask him and Harry to confirm whether or not this is Niall and Liam’s house again, and this time Harry nods.

He’s still trying to figure out what the officers are doing there, but Louis already knows that something horrible has happened. His fears are confirmed when they explain that Niall and Liam were in a car accident a few hours ago.

Harry pales and starts shoving his feet into his boots as soon as the words are out of their mouths.

“W-Where are they, now? Which hospital?” he demands with wild eyes. Louis takes ahold of Harry’s arm to stop him when he catches the officers’ grave expressions.

It feels like he’s been punched in the gut when they say they didn’t make it.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry wakes up on the floor of Sophie’s nursery with eyes so swollen that he can hardly see. His head hurts like hell and his chest is weak from crying over a situation that can never be fixed no matter how hard he wishes for his friends to come back. Harry doesn’t even remember falling asleep up here last night. The only thing he remembers is wanting to be near Sophie.

He scoops her up and takes her downstairs to get something to eat when she wakes up a few minutes after him. The house still looks the same regardless of the fact that it’s owners aren’t coming back. Louis is curled up on the couch with his back to him, but Harry is sure he isn’t really sleeping.

Last night was rough on both of them. Harry had never been so brokenhearted and he had never in his life seen Louis as quiet as he was when Harry collapsed into his arms. They had just found out that their best friends were dead and all Harry could think about was Niall teasing them and saying, ‘ _Aww, Isn’t that cute?_ ’ He would give anything in world to be able to hear him say that again.

Harry stands by the couch and taps Louis on the shoulder. He rolls over with bloodshot eyes, proof that he hasn’t slept much or at all.

“We should probably eat something before the lawyer gets here. I was going to see what they have in the fridge.”

Louis scrubs his hands down his face and rubs at his eyes in an attempt to seem more alert. It only leaves him looking more exhausted and miserable.

“I’m alright. Just make something for you and Sophie.” He tries to smile with his words, but it falls short.

He looks awful. He’s been playing the strong role all night, unlike Harry who couldn’t even hold it together enough to keep from waking Sophie when they found out. Louis volunteered to identify the bodies when Harry couldn’t even stomach the thought of it, and then came back to comfort him and Sophie like his heart wasn’t ripped into a million pieces. Harry only ever saw a few silent tears roll down his cheeks. He wonders how long he will be able to keep it up.

“I’ll just make you some tea then. I don’t know what you like, but the two of them always kept a variety. Niall never could stick to one so Liam made sure to buy at least one of everything,” Harry chuckles to himself.

Mentioning them, even alongside something as simple as tea causes a lump to rise up in Harry’s throat. He realizes that Louis is having a similar reaction when he can no longer stand to meet Harry’s eyes.

He hasn’t talked about them at all, and Louis hasn’t said anything, but Harry suspects that even interacting with Sophie is too much for him right now. He hasn’t even smiled at her where she’s balanced on Harry’s hip.

“I’ll just use my best judgment,” Harry tells him before walking away to give Louis the opportunity to collect himself.

It’s almost noon when there’s another knock at the door.

Harry had talked Louis into drinking some tea and even eating a little, so he started looking a bit more human by the time Sophie was ready for a nap. Harry had been on his way upstairs to put her down when Louis offered to take her instead, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. It’s wasn’t much, but it’s more than he was able to do a few hours ago, so Harry is feeling good about the meeting with Niall and Liam’s lawyer.

He doesn’t know how much help they’ll be since neither of them ever discussed legal things with him or Louis. They know virtually nothing about the house and even less about any insurance claims the two of them may have had, but he and Louis are there to be supportive and help out in any way that they can.

The lawyer rushes in looking like he’s had less sleep than the two of them. They sit down in the living room and wait patiently as the man gets all of his documents in order and explains how sorry he is for their loss.

Some of the first things he shares are details about the accident even though Harry could’ve lived a thousand years without knowing any of them.

Apparently the brand new SUV Liam and Niall purchased a couple of months ago had some issues with the steering that most likely led to them veering off the road. He says that there have been similar cases with the same vehicle all across the country within the last couple of weeks and that the manufacturer takes full responsibility and has already recalled all other vehicles that are still in use. The lawyer says that once they reach an agreement, the settlement along with their insurance will be enough to cover their funeral expenses, the rest of their mortgage, and even a small fund for Sophie when she’s of age.

They find out later that their will indicates that the house be given to Sophie anyway in the event of their deaths. Harry is glad to hear it, thankful that at least something positive will come of this. Finding out about the house is great, but the issue he’s most concerned with is his goddaughter even though he’s too scared to actually ask. He’s glad when Louis has the courage to do it instead.

“What about their daughter? Who will she live with? Where will she go?”

Sophie moving away to stay with some distant unknown relative is something Harry really doesn’t want to think about right now. He loves Sophie and the thought of not being a part of her life any more feels like a blade to the gut.

“The two of them didn’t have much family,” the lawyer begins like they don’t already know that.

Niall and Liam were each other’s family. Liam’s parents died when he was young and his grandparents were gone before he was even born. He was raised by a great aunt who is so poorly that she was too ill to even come to their wedding. Niall never knew his father and his mother and brother died in a car accident when he was just out of school. His grandmother is alive, but she’s so old now that she could never take care of a baby by herself, so she’s also out of the question.

“They named the two of you as Sophie’s temporary guardians, however, since there were virtually no other options, they also named the two of you as her legal guardians in the event that they could no longer care for her.”

Harry solemnly nods along with his words, already dreading the goodbye he’ll have to endure when Sophie has to go away to live with someone they don’t even know, but his head snaps up when the lawyer’s words register in his brain. Louis’ voice cuts through the air like a knife.

“Wait. What did you just say?”

The lawyer explains again how Liam and Niall named them as temporary _and_ legal guardians. It’s like hearing it under twelve feet of water with the way they’re still not understanding what’s going on.

“No, no, no,” Louis laughs. “There must be some kind of misunderstanding.”

The lawyer shakes his head in answer.

Louis sits up straight and alert when he realizes it isn’t a joke. Harry is shocked as well, but he’s still stuck on the him and Louis part of it all. What the fuck were Liam and Niall thinking?

“But… we’re not even together, so how does that work?” They don’t even get along on most days, but Harry keeps that bit of information to himself. “How can they name us _both_? Can they even do that?” Harry asks.

“Who cares if they could do it by law? I want to know how they could even consider it in the first place,” Louis shrieks. “We’re not cut out for parenting. They wouldn’t even let us babysit her on our own and you’re telling me they want to _give_ her to us? You can’t just _give_ someone your kid!”

The lawyer steps in when he sees their mutual looks of panic.

“Their will has been in place for over a year and has always stated the same thing. They helped draw up the transfer of guardianship documents themselves. They specifically chose you. _Both_ of you,” he insists, placing the documents in front of them.

Louis stares at the blank signature lines on the paper.

“Well, Harry and I are flattered, honestly, but we fucking decline or whatever it is we need to do to say no. I mean, this is insane, right Harry? Tell him this is insane.”

His stomach is in knots. It’s the craziest thing he’s ever fucking heard, but that doesn’t mean he won’t do it. A crease forms between Harry’s eyebrows when he meets the lawyer’s eyes. He can’t just ignore what his friends wanted for their daughter.

“…I didn’t say no.” Harry’s answer isn’t a joyful yes, but he definitely wants what’s best for Sophie and her parents believed that this is it. “My answer’s not no,” he says again in case either of them missed it the first time.

Louis narrows his eyes at him like he’s waiting for the punchline to a joke.  He goes quiet when he sees that Harry is completely serious.

“Haz,” Louis says in a low tone. “We cannot agree to something like this. Are you even hearing yourself right now?” he asks incredulously.

Harry glances up at the lawyer who is watching them like a couple of bombs about to explode before his eyes. He has no idea how very right he is. Like he can read Harry’s mind, the man dismisses himself to give them some privacy.

Harry’s eyes bore into Louis as soon as he’s gone.

“I am not letting Sophie get sent away to live with strangers. Liam and Niall adopted her from an orphanage, I’m not fucking sending her back.”

Her birth mother didn’t have the means to care for her and now her adoptive parents have been taken away as well. Sophie deserves so much more than what life has given her.  They can put an end to her getting shuffled around like a game piece.

Louis’ eyes soften at his words, but he’s still as stubborn as ever.

“Harry, you can’t just become a parent because Niall and Liam said so. This isn’t like babysitting her for a few hours when they want to have a bloody date night. This is raising a _child_. _Their_ child. We can take care of their funeral arrangements and be her temporary guardians until she’s placed in a permanent home, but we don’t owe them any more than that.”

“ _This_ is her permanent home, Louis. This is what they wanted,” Harry argues. “Our friends wanted their daughter to be raised by her godparents, and I’m going to give that to them with or without you.”

They’re at a stare off, neither of them budging on the matter. Louis takes a deep breath to steady himself when he looks like he’s about to scream. Harry feels just as frustrated trying to reason with the insensitive idiot beside him who can’t think outside of himself for five fucking minutes.

“Harry, I know you want to honor their wishes. I get it, but look around,” he says quietly. “It’s not like they’re coming back.”

Louis’ words cause his stomach to twist uncomfortably. Harry can’t believe him, well actually he can, because Louis has always been an ass, but never when it comes to his friends and definitely not when it comes to Sophie.

“She’s our goddaughter, Louis. You love her more than anything. How can you even think about saying no? This is her _home_. Her parents left it to her and they want her to be raised in it. We can give that to her.”

Harry can see pain and remorse swimming in his eyes, but Louis doesn’t rush to change his mind. He doesn’t even look at Harry when he responds.

“I don’t want to be a father, I don’t want to live in their house, and I’m not going to be guilted into doing any of it.”

Every word is like a slap in the face.

Just when Harry thinks Louis is finished shocking him, he gets up and leaves Harry there on the couch. He’s out of the room before Harry even has a chance to call him back.

*

Louis has no idea where he’s going when he walks out. He just needs to be away from Harry and those fucking eyes of his that make him feel so low that he’s sick with himself.

This whole situation is fucked up. He wants nothing more than to turn back time so that none of this can happen. He’d stop Niall and Liam from buying that stupid SUV. He’d stop them from going out. He’d tie them down to keep them in the house and then he would ask them why the hell they chose him and Harry of all people to care for their daughter if they fucking died.

He doesn’t realize he’s crying until he finds himself standing in front of Sophie. She was asleep when he put her down earlier, but she’s wide awake now, standing up to watch him pace around the floor of her nursery with curious eyes. He immediately wipes at his cheeks to hide the fact that he’s upset, because she’s seen enough of that from him and Harry these last few hours.

“I’m fine, Soph.” Louis laughs at himself. He kept saying that to Harry all last night. Now he’s even trying to convince a baby of something that isn’t true.

She reaches for him and it makes his chest ache. He picks her up and she cuddles into him like always with her head resting on his chest. He sits in the armchair near the window and allows himself to cry even though it won’t change a thing.

“Your parents were idiots. I don’t know how you put up with them,” he tells her.

Harry would probably yell at him for saying that to their child, but it’s not like she knows what he’s talking about anyway. It’s not like she’ll remember. A fresh wave of tears starts up when he realizes that she won’t remember any of this; this house, the accident, him, Harry, probably not even Liam and Niall. She’ll grow up somewhere else and never know them. She’ll never know how much her parents loved her or how she was the absolute center of all of their worlds. They won’t even be a hazy memory that she can look back on.

Sophie sits up to look at him when he’s sobbing so hard that he’s shaking, and because Harry has a knack for ruining everything he chooses that moment to walk in and find him falling apart.

His eyes are troubled when he walks over to take Sophie, but Louis clings to her. Harry asks him what’s wrong, but Louis can’t get the words out over his sobs.

“Lou, let me have her. Just for a minute,” he promises.

He doesn’t want to, but he hands her over for Harry to place back in her crib.

Louis knows he’s going to yell at him for crying all over her and for storming out of that meeting with the lawyer. He’s expecting it. He deserves it even for always being such a dick, especially to him, but Harry watches him with eyes so full of sadness that Louis’ guilt fades away.

He takes Louis’ hand and pulls him into an embrace so tight that his breath feels caught in his throat. He lets new tears flow down his cheeks, finally finding his voice with Harry’s fingers gently combing through his hair.

“She’s not going to remember them,” he says pitifully.

Harry looks at him and sighs with a bittersweet smile, causing a couple of tears of his own to roll down his cheeks.

“I know. That’s why she needs us. We have to tell her about them every day. We have to make sure she knows how much they loved her.”

The thought of changing his entire life is the most terrifying thing Louis’ ever had to consider, but even so, he can’t deny that Harry is right.

Harry holds him for a few minutes longer until his breathing evens out again and he’s pulling out of his embrace.

“Did the lawyer leave already?” he asks.

“I don’t think so. He said he’d give us a few moments to think.”

Louis uses the sleeve of his shirt to dry his eyes. He heads for the door when he’s sure he looks presentable. He hates for people to know when he’s been crying.

Harry stops him before he can make it too far. “Wait. Lou, where are you going?”

Louis can’t believe his mouth is saying the words when he steps back into the room. “I’m going to find him. He’s got those documents for us to sign and I’m not making it any easier by stalling up here,” he says. “And plus, it’s almost lunch time. Sophie’s going to be hungry soon and I’d rather have all the paperwork finished by then.”

Louis can see Harry’s eyes welling up again when the gravity of what he said sinks in. There’s a multitude of emotions displayed on his face, but the one Louis registers the most is relief.

“Okay, then. Let’s go find him.” Harry says. He lifts Sophie out of her crib again and gingerly places her back in Louis’ arms.

Louis has to remind himself to breathe as they descend the stairs.


	5. Chapter 5

They officially move into the house four days after the funeral.

It was eerie and difficult trying to squeeze all of their stuff in with Niall and Liam’s belongings, so they had no other choice but to get rid of some of it even though it felt wrong to be removing anything from the home that they were so proud of.

Their bedroom turned out to be the hardest part of it all. Neither him or Louis could bring themselves to actually disturb anything, not even the cup half-filled with water on the bedside table, so they left it untouched with the bed unmade and Niall’s toothbrush balanced at the edge of the sink where he forgot to put it back in the cup beside Liam’s. They vow to go in and tidy it up one day, but since they aren’t quite ready they close it off, Harry takes the guestroom and Louis moves into the attic to prolong dealing with it.

Harry had expected for things to be awkward between him and Louis and he definitely wasn’t disappointed. The first couple of days were strange and felt oddly disconnected from every other interaction that the two of them have ever shared, especially since they usually bicker like children after five minutes of being in the same room.

Louis is quiet and courteous when they bump elbows in the kitchen while he’s getting ready for work and says things like please and thank you when Harry hands him something that he needs. They write out a balanced list of household duties and schedule the next few weeks on a calendar to get them started with making all of this work. Baby steps.

Louis is agreeable when he has to watch Sophie by himself and punctual when Harry needs him to get home in time so he can go to work. It’s easy, and Harry finds himself being equally accommodating and considerate for the sake of Sophie and their overall wellbeing during this big adjustment. Both of them just seem so tentative around each other.

It lasts for about a week.

Harry’s taps his foot as he checks the time again only to find out what he already knows; that Louis is fucking late. _Again._

He tries to get Sophie to have a bite of the applesauce he’s been holding for the past twenty minutes, but she rejects it with another shrill cry and a sharp jerk of her head. Lately all she does is cry and she’s not eating as much as Harry has read that she should. Anytime she refused food while they were babysitting her Harry would always shrug it off, confident that her parents would be home soon and that they could convince her to eat, but that’s no longer an option seeing as how her parents are gone.

“Sophie, please, just try it for me? Just a bite?” he begs. Her only response is another stubborn turn of her head.

Harry sighs, placing the spoon back into the jar and checking the time again even though he knows worrying about how late he’s going to be for work won’t make Louis get there any faster. He picks Sophie up out of her chair and sits her on his hip to calm her.

He takes out his phone and tries to tap out a one handed text to see where the fuck Louis is. Thankfully, he hears the roar of his bike before he can hit send.

Sophie is still a blubbering mess when Louis walks in and places his stupid helmet on the island along with his keys.  

“Where have you been? I’m going to be late for work now,” Harry says in passing as he hands Sophie to him.

Louis frowns at the food splattered across her cheek and reaches for a wet towel to clean her off.

“I got caught up on the way back. Traffic was bumper to bumper.”

“You drive a motorcycle!”

“What, did you want me to drive on top of all the cars or something?” Louis stares at him like he’s waiting for a real answer and all it does is make Harry angrier.

“You could’ve at least let me know so I could call ahead.”

Louis scoffs and kisses Sophie’s cheek when she’s clean. She immediately stops crying and it makes Harry want to scream. He’s been trying to do that all day.

“It’s one day and aren’t you like the boss or whatever? Who cares if you walk in two minutes late?”

“ _I_ care,” Harry tells him as he’s grabbing his keys from the hook on the wall. He has rearranged his entire kitchen staff and their schedules so that he can be home during the day when Louis is at work. The very least he could do is show up on fucking time so he can make it to his evening shift. “I can’t keep doing this every day. Maybe we need to look into a sitter or daycare for while we’re at work.”

“And who’s going to pay for that? We have enough bills already.”

Yes, Harry knows all about their bills, especially since he has been the main one trying to make sense of them all and how they’re going to pay them. Louis never pays attention to due dates and he always buys the most expensive food on the shelf. If it were left up to him they’d all starve within a month’s time.

Harry doesn’t have the energy or the time to get into another money debate so he ignores the comment and chooses instead to walk out the front door. When he’s in his car, he cradles his head in his hands and takes a moment to breathe before turning the key in the ignition.

He’s been taking it one day at a time, but Louis in the picture just makes it all that much harder to adjust. He _knows_ he can get everything sorted out and make this work. He just needs a bit of assistance is all. He just wishes his help would try a little harder.

*

Louis had expected for Harry to start arguing with him about money again after his little comment, but he left without a single word. 

Louis takes in the state of the kitchen with globs of rejected applesauce on the floor and the pile of dishes Louis was technically supposed to take care of yesterday. He sighs, feeling just a tad bit guilty for making Harry’s day more difficult than it needed to be.

Sophie reaches for him when he sits her back in the chair and picks up the jar of applesauce that she and Harry must’ve been battling over. He’s told Harry a dozen times to stop forcing it with the food and that she’ll eat when she’s hungry, but he’s so fucking stubborn that he ends up getting her all upset when she’s being fussy at meal times.

It takes some effort but after a minute of making her laugh with funny faces and a silly voice, Sophie happily takes a few bites.

When she’s finished, Louis turns his attention the sink, talking to Sophie over the top of the island as he starts cleaning.

It’s after nine when Harry gets in and finds him on the couch lazily flipping through channels on the tv. Harry doesn’t say anything to him as he heads straight for the kitchen. He only makes it a few steps inside before he stops and turns to Louis with a puzzled expression.

“You did the dishes.”

“It was my turn. I didn’t want to forget again,” Louis explains as he takes a long sip of his beer.

Harry turns away from the kitchen and walks into the living room instead. His eyes fall on the pile of neatly folded clothes on the armchair.

“And you washed Sophie’s clothes? That wasn’t even your job. That was on my side of the list.”

Harry drops down on the couch beside him. He sounds so shocked at Louis pulling his weight that it makes him feel bad for how inconsiderate he’s been when it comes to their shared duties around the house.

“I figured it was the least I could do. I made you late today and you looked like you could use some help when I got home, so.”

Louis shrugs so that it doesn’t seem like a big deal, because it really isn’t. He was kind of a prick for leaving the kitchen looking like that and traffic really wasn’t all that horrible for him to have been as late as he was. Louis was being rude, so he definitely had a couple of things to make up for. Harry is looking at him like it’s the best gift he’s ever received.

“Thank you, Louis.”

Louis’ brain wants him to say sorry and give Harry the apology that he deserves, but his mouth won’t say the words.

“Don’t mention it.”

*

Living with Louis and a baby is one of the most challenging things that Harry has ever had to do. It’s hard trying to pick up where Niall and Liam left off with raising their daughter, but it does get a bit easier as time goes on, and by month two Harry can tell a huge difference in the way they’re getting on.

Harry starts feeling less like a long-term nanny who’s intruding and more like a permanent fixture in Sophie’s life. It’s obvious that Louis is settling into his new role too as he becomes more and more willing to help and accept the fact that they are in this together.

There’s even a noticeable shift in the neighborhood now that everyone has had time to slowly adjust to them and accept them. It started out small with a couple of guys who were more than a little curious about Louis’ motorcycle each time he parked it in the drive. They would come over to chat about the bikes they would buy if only their spouses would let them, and soon after that Louis started getting invited to watch football and have a couple of drinks as they grill out.

He invites Harry to tag along most of the time, though Harry suspects he mostly does it so that he isn’t left out. Motorcycles aren’t really his scene, so he usually declines and lets Louis have all the attention, however there is a couple who lives two houses down from them that Harry really gets along with.

Lou and Tom are a couple who are around their age and have a three-year old daughter called Lux who Sophie really enjoys playing with. The two of them had been really close to Liam and Niall when they were alive, and when Harry and Louis moved in they were some of the first people to try and make them feel welcome. They were also some of the only people who they felt like they could turn to and talk about how it felt to lose them so suddenly.

Harry works at night and Lou is a part-time hairdresser who’s home most days out of the week. She’s great at giving advice about being a parent and she’s absolutely obsessed with Harry’s curls, so they instantly become good friends. He doesn’t see much of Tom during the week since he pretty much works the same hours as Louis, but they sometimes hang out on weekends to play guitar and even write a little when they have the time.

The two of them are great and they love Louis as well, often inviting them over together so that it’s the four of them sitting around the dinner table or chatting in the living room as Sophie and Lux play.

At first it felt strange to be participating in so many coupley activities like they were dating or married, but obviously neither him or Louis has ever looked at it that way even though everyone else seems to think that the two of them is just a matter of time. Once, Lou even asked him if he and Louis had ever thought about getting together, to which Harry laughed and recounted the tragic event that he likes to refer to as The Great Blind Date Debacle of 2012.

“Lou and Tom said they might come over in a bit,” Harry announces as he drains the bathtub and lines Sophie’s bath toys along the edge to dry. Louis’ fingers slow where he’s buttoning Sophie into her onesie.

“ _Shit_. Was that on the calendar for tonight?”

Harry frowns at his question. “Don’t say shit,” he reminds him for the hundredth time and then winces as he realizes that he’s now said it as well. Sophie doesn’t say many words, but he knows that she hears and retains everything. Liam had been trying to get her to say daddy for months to no avail. All she’d say is ‘ _no_ ’ and fragmented versions of the words _‘bottle’_ and ‘ _goodbye_ ’.

Harry realizes that he and Louis aren’t going to be nominated for parents of the year or anything, but he’d never forgive himself or Louis for that matter if Sophie started saying shit as opposed to normal one-year old things such as please and thank you.

“Don’t worry. It’s not on the calendar. They just want to watch a movie and have some drinks, I think. Lux is with Tom’s parents, so they’re letting loose,” Harry explains when Louis looks still looks panicked like he’s forgotten something.

“Oh,” he breathes, looking very relieved. “That sounds fun,” he says, but his eyes are a bit guilty when he looks at Harry. “I wish I could, Haz, but I sort of already made plans with a friend. Y-You’ll be okay with them by yourself, right?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine,” Harry assures him. “I think Lou really wanted to see you though. She says she misses you.”

“I’ll make it up to her,” Louis promises as he scoops Sophie up and heads towards her room. Harry comes in to put her dirty clothes in the laundry basket and finds Louis soothingly rubbing her back to get her to sleep. She’s not sleepy yet, so Harry offers to take over since Louis has somewhere to be soon.

Harry answers the door about an hour later to Lou holding a half-empty bottle of red wine and Tom shaking his head at the two full bottles that she probably made him carry all the way over here.

“I hope you and Louis are thirsty,” she smiles.

She and Tom head for the kitchen as soon as Harry lets them in. She frowns when Harry only takes out three glasses.

“Louis’ hanging out with a mate later, so it’s just us three.”

“A mate?” she scoffs. “Who could be cooler than us?”

“No one,” Tom answers her. “He’s definitely downgrading.”

“Maybe he’ll get back in time to see the end of the movie we pick,” Harry offers when Lou looks put out. Chances of that are slim, but there’s always a chance that Louis would want to have an early Saturday night in with them.

They’re all in the living room when Louis comes rushing down the stairs at the sound of a car pulling up in the drive. He tries to offer them all a quick ‘goodnight’ in passing, but Lou stops him before he can make it out of the door.

“Oh, no you don’t! You get back- _Wow_ , Louis. You look really good.” Louis rolls his eyes at her flattery as he tries to edge his way towards the door. “How come you never dress up for us?” she pouts.

Harry wants to bring up the fact that Louis couldn’t even manage to wear real pants when they first met, but he manages to keep his mouth shut considering Louis does look pretty amazing right now.

“Oh, I’m not dressed up,” Louis insists, but they all know it’s a lie. Louis’ black jeans are the tightest that Harry’s ever seen him wear, and the maroon shirt he’s wearing isn’t much better. He’s clean shaven tonight, and from the looks of it he even took time to do something to his hair.

Harry’s attention gets pulled back when Louis’ phone vibrates in his pocket. He quickly checks the message and wishes them a goodnight.  “Sorry I’m rushing out on you, but I have to go. You lot have fun.”  

Lou’s voice stops him from going anywhere as she sits up to further interrogate him.

“So…this _mate_ , then. Is it just the two of you? Are you just hanging out or is this like a _date_? The outfit screams hot date.”

Louis laughs nervously when his phone vibrates again. He checks the new message and tries to issue another goodbye. He doesn’t get too far with it when Tom chuckles and checks his watch for the time.

“A date at this hour? No way, Lou,” he teases.

Harry expects another impatient text to come through on Louis’ phone. Their heads all whip toward the door instead when someone impatiently knocks on it. Louis waves at them and tries to rush out, but Lou hops up, climbing over the arm of the couch to beat him to the door. She opens it to reveal a tall man with light colored hair; a man Harry has never seen before. He nods at the room full of people openly staring at him and then looks to Louis for cues.

Louis’ lie about them being friends may have worked out if not for the way the man’s eyes greedily travel the length of his body.

There’s another few seconds of awkward silence before Louis clears his throat to end it.

“Alright, well, we’re going to go. You guys enjoy the movie. See you later!” he calls as he ushers his _friend_ out of the entranceway and quickly shuts the door behind them.

They all dumbly stare at the spot where Louis and the man disappeared.

“A mate, my _ass_ ,” Lou cackles. “He’s going on a fucking date!” Tom and Harry both raise a skeptical eyebrow at her persistence on the matter and she frowns. “But that guy came to pick him up! That’s a date thing, right?” Harry bites down on a smirk. He imagines it must be pretty hard to have sex on a motorcycle.

Tom consults his watch again. “It’s past ten o’clock. I don’t know what the kids are calling it these days, but that’s no date.”

Lou gasps into her glass when she gets Tom’s meaning. “Oh my God, you’re right! I’ve been out of the game for so long that I forgot what being single looks like,” she moans.

Harry laughs to himself because he’s about as single as they come, and life has _never_ looked like that for him. He definitely doesn’t see that changing anytime soon now that he’s living here. He hasn’t been on a date or whatever the hell Louis is currently on in ages.

His soft chuckle to himself catches Lou’s attention. She floats back over to the couch and fixes him with a look of concern.

“Harry? Does it bother you that he goes out with other people?” she asks quietly.

Harry would laugh if she didn’t look so incredibly serious about it. Louis sleeping around has never bothered him. He’s been doing it literally since the day they met.

“No. It doesn’t bother me at all. He’s here for Sophie and he loves her. What he does in his spare time is none of my business,” Harry states simply.

Lou looks sad for a brief moment and gently places a hand on his forearm. She doesn’t look like she quite believes that, but she drops it. “Who,” she corrects him with a smirk. “You don’t care _who_ he does in his spare time.”

Harry tries to keep a straight face, but her eyes are glinting so much that he can’t hold it in. They all burst into a fit of giggles before settling down into their quiet night in.

“Well, forget him,” she sniffs cuddling into both Tom and Harry at once. “We’ll drink all of this wine by ourselves. More for us.”

“That’s right,” Tom agrees.

Harry doesn’t mention the fact that Louis doesn’t even like wine in the first place. He prefers beer.

“And if he comes back looking too happy about ditching us we’ll lie and say we had a full out orgy. Our night won’t be outdone,” she says as she hits play on whatever movie she and Tom chose.

Harry laughs, remembering how that guy looked about ten seconds from stripping Louis down in their doorway. He’s pretty sure Louis wouldn’t be very jealous considering he’s probably out having something similar to an orgy right now with his ‘mate’.

~*~

Louis comes home just after midnight and finds him in the kitchen cleaning up the mess they made when Lou decided she wanted to bake half-way through the film. Louis drops his keys on the table with a wide yawn as he comes to lean against the counter to watch him.

“So, how was movie slash wine night?”

Harry grins at the burnt cupcake mix stuck to the baking pan. Liam would have a fit it he saw it.

“It was good. We watched Bridesmaids and Lou tried to make cupcakes.”

Louis raises his eyebrows at the state of the pan he’s currently soaking.

“She was that pissed huh? Damn. I hate that I missed that,” Louis laughs.

They go quiet in the space where Harry knows he should ask how Louis’ night went. He doesn’t want to ask and he’s not sure that Louis would give him an answer even if he did, but he tries it anyway.

“So, uh, how was _your_ night?”

His discomfort must be visible on his face, because Louis drops his gaze to chuckle.

“Do you really want to know, or are you just asking to be nice?”

Definitely the second one, but Harry doesn’t say that. He smiles at Louis with an open expression. “Only if you want to tell me,” he answers. “No pressure.”

Louis sighs with a sad sort of grin. “I used to talk to Niall about this kind of stuff all of the time, but-”

His words taper off before he can finish his sentence, but Harry gets it. He used to tell Liam everything too. He misses being able to do that, but he guesses that he and Louis are close enough now that they can talk about what’s on their minds. It’s just that the opportunity has never presented itself before now.

“Are you sure you want to hear this?” Louis runs his fingers through his hair like he isn’t sure whether or not they should go down this road.

“I do,” Harry nods. “I’m all ears.”

“Okay, then. I met the boy I was with tonight a couple of weeks ago. His name is Thomas. This was our first time hanging out,” Louis explains. “We went to a pub for some drinks and afterwards I went back to his for a bit.”

Harry nods and clears his throat as he tries to sound casually interested even though he is more than fascinated by their conversation. “Oh? That sounds…fun.”

Louis laughs at his attempt. “It was alright, but it was pretty much a one-time deal, so it doesn’t really matter.”

“Why not?”

Harry looks at Louis’ choice of outfit again and the way he actually tried for his big night out. It seems like such a wasted effort for a boy he doesn’t even like or intends to see again.

Louis shrugs. “It was fun, but it’s not like it can go anywhere. I live here now with you and Sophie. It’s hard to try and explain that to people. I don’t think I’m going to be anyone’s first choice for a long-term relationship or anything.”

Harry has thought about this on several occasions; about what’s going to happen when one of them inevitably falls in love and realizes that this pseudo-family they have isn’t going to cut it anymore. He doesn’t think either of them could bear to leave Sophie behind, but he doesn’t see how it could work with them continuing to share the house either.

“It’s funny,” Louis laughs, even though he doesn’t sound very amused. “I haven’t gone out since Niall and Li, so I thought I’d have a blast feeling like the old me again.” Harry mirrors his serious expression. It turns soft when Louis continues with, “I kind of wish I had hung around here with you guys instead.”

Harry didn’t want to admit it at the time, but he had felt a bit disappointed when Louis told him he had already made plans. He likes their tiny friend circle, and surprisingly, he likes it even more when Louis’ there too.

“Well, there’s always next time,” Harry tells him. He grins down at Louis and his perfectly styled hair. He really does look nice tonight. It’s too bad he didn’t have a good time. “And at least you got a chance to shave and wear those jeans,” Harry jokes in order to lighten the mood. “ _Loads_ better than what I got.”

“Oh Haz, you’re still bitter about that?” Louis laughs.

“I still have nightmares about it.”

It feels familiar when Louis’ eyes light up after his comment. Harry’s expecting him to comeback with something witty about his nightmares really being wet dreams, but Louis shakes his head, probably thinking better of making sex jokes in the midst of their serious conversation.

Everything feels off-center from Harry getting to have the last word during their banter. Harry finds himself missing the way they used to pick at each other for fun. For some reason they don’t really do that anymore, but he guesses it’s not quite the same without Liam and Niall egging them on. He still misses it though.

“Thanks for listening to me whine about my life,” Louis grins after a long pause. “I think I’m going to head up for bed. I’ll see you and Sophie in the morning?”

Harry nods, still feeling like something’s off when Louis tells him goodnight. Harry echoes it just as Louis’ heading up the stairs. Harry has no idea why he feels the urge to call him back.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry picks up a pair of bright pink boots from the shelf and turns to Louis for his approval.

“What do you think?”

“They won’t go with a thing in your closet, but they’re nice,” Louis smirks.

Harry rolls his eyes and fights a grin. “Well since they’re about twelve sizes too small and for _Sophie_ , I guess you’re right.”

This is the eighth pair of shoes that Harry has picked up. At this point Sophie could wear gift boxes on her feet for when the weather turns cold and Louis would be happy. Leave it to Harry to take shopping for a baby so bloody seriously.

“They’re perfect. I love them. Let’s go,” Louis says as he readjusts Sophie on his hip.

The weather is getting cooler with each day that passes and every winter shoe that she owns was bought for her when she was just a few months old. She’s so much bigger than she was last year, so the two of them have been spending a lot of time shopping for things she’ll need in the winter.

Harry rolls his eyes at Louis’ latest attempt to get them out of the store. “You’ve said that about every pair I’ve chosen.”

That’s because they all look the same. “As long as they’re big enough for her feet and keep her from getting frost bitten toes, then I don’t care which ones we buy.” Honestly, Louis sees no point in this. It’s not like Sophie actually cares what her shoes look like. Half of the time she’s screaming at the top of her lungs while trying to take them off anyway.

“ _Fine_ ,” Harry rolls his eyes at Louis’ lazy answer, but by some miracle he decides that this is the pair.

They almost make it to the register together, but then Harry stops to fuss over a clothing rack full of little girls’ coats with hoods lined with fur.  

“We bought her a new coat two weeks ago,” Louis reminds him when his eyes go all dreamy.

Harry turns to him with his bottom lip pushed out. “But these are so cute, though.”

These are also expensive as fuck, but Louis doesn’t say that. “She doesn’t need two, Harry. She’s just going to outgrow it anyway,” Louis reasons as he pries the coat out of his hands to place back on the rack.

Harry sighs in defeat and makes grabby hands for Sophie to come to him as a consolation. Louis gladly trades her for the boots she’ll probably kick off as soon as they tie them on her feet.

“You could always use another cute coat, couldn’t you, Soph?” Harry questions, like her vote is going to sway Louis’ opinion on the matter. It doesn’t.

He rolls his eyes at the two of them and heads for the register. “We’ll buy her one with fur next year,” Louis tells him over his shoulder.

The cashier smiles at him as he pays. “You have such a beautiful family,” the woman says as she watches Harry and Sophie move over to the hats and mittens.

Comments like that used to cause Louis’ heart to hammer painfully in his chest, but as time passed he realized that mistaking the three of them for a family is completely justified. He doesn’t know how, but he and Harry somehow make it work so that they can raise Sophie together. What they’re doing is weird and makes absolutely no sense to the rest of the world, but somehow they _are_ a family, as fragile as it may be.

Her words still make something warm flush through his chest, but he smiles back at her regardless when he thanks her.

It’s a couple of days later when Louis is continuing the never-ending task of sorting through the things that Sophie can no longer wear from what she can still get a couple of months out of.

He adds all of the new purchases that he and Harry have made over the past couple of weeks together with all of the other items that she can still wear. Even after all the money they’ve spent there isn’t a lot there.

The majority of her things have been outgrown and are currently in a pile on the floor to be given away, but even with the mountain before him, Louis knows there’s a lot more stuff in Niall and Liam’s room just sitting there collecting dust. He picks Sophie up from where she was playing on the ground and decides that now is as good of a time as ever to go get it.

He and Harry went in and tidied up about a month ago when they were so desperate to find clothes that fit her that they realized the one place neither of them had looked. Niall and Liam’s bedroom was always this huge elephant that neither of them talked about. He and Harry had tried to clean out their stuff the week they moved in, but they could hardly bear to even step foot inside of the room. It felt like trespassing on a life that wasn’t theirs. The only reason they ventured inside a few weeks ago was their hope that inside, Niall and Liam had stored away all the things they got from their baby shower when they brought Sophie home.

Louis remembers them being given mountains of clothes and baby gear, even stuff to carry her through to becoming a toddler. He and Harry were so crunched for money that they braved the eeriness of their bedroom to search for it.

Since the day they removed most of their personal belongings, being in their room doesn’t bother Louis much anymore. The bathroom has been cleaned and all of their toiletries have been thrown out. The bed has been made and most of their clothes have been donated to charity, so that it now looks like a large guestroom.  Louis opens the closet to find the few things that he and Harry just couldn’t get rid of, like the suits they got married in, Liam’s favorite hoodie, and Niall’s guitar. He pushes all of that aside for the moment to get to the large box full of Sophie’s baby shower gifts.

Louis places her on the floor so she can crawl around and explore her parent’s old room. Louis moves quickly through all the baby clothes and pulls out the jeans and shirts that can probably fit her now. Again, there isn’t a lot there, but it’ll have to do for now until she goes through another growth spurt.

He hears the door open and shut downstairs and then Harry’s voice calling for them. Louis shouts out that they’re upstairs. He hears Harry’s quick feet on the steps and when he turns he catches sight of him walking by as he heads for Sophie’s room. Harry freezes when he sees Liam and Niall’s door open.

“Oh,” he says blinking in at him and Sophie sitting on the floor surrounded by an ocean of baby clothes.

He watches as Harry takes a deep breath and then enters the room. He picks Sophie up to kiss her hello and then gingerly sits on the edge of the bed with her on his lap.

“What are you guys doing in here?”

“I wanted all the stuff she can wear in one place so I’m collecting it all.”

“Oh. Don’t forget about all the stuff that Tom and Lou gave us. It’s downstairs.”

“That’s right,” Louis suddenly remembers. “Watch her a minute while I go get it?” He stands to smack a loud kiss to Sophie’s cheek to make her laugh and gives a light squeeze to Harry’s shoulder. It’s obvious that being in here by himself still bothers him, even though he doesn’t say it. He gives Louis a small smile to let him know that he’s alright. “I’ll be right back,” Louis promises.

He’s gone for a lot longer than he meant to be when he finally treks back up the stairs with Lux’s hand-me-downs. He expects to find Harry in the spot in which he left him, but he’s on the floor now with Niall’s guitar. Sophie is sitting with him, watching with interested eyes as Harry wipes the dust from between the frets.

Louis deposits the clothes he’s holding onto the pile of things Sophie can wear. He sits down in front of him on the floor.

“You should play it. Niall would hate knowing it’s just sitting here.”

Harry’s fingers move across the neck of the instrument like he wants to, but then he blinks up at Louis with eyes filled with regret.

“I wish we had played more together.”

He strums a slow rhythm while his fingers map out some chords. It’s out of tune from how long it’s been sitting in the closet, but Sophie is looking at it like it’s magical.

Louis knows that Harry and Tom play every once in a while, but he’s sure it’s not the same as when he’d play with Niall. Louis lightly squeezes his knee. “Maybe Sophie will want to learn one day. You could always teach her,” he smiles. “Niall definitely would.”

Harry smiles, letting his dimples show when he glances up from the guitar to see Sophie’s eyes fixated on his hands moving across the instrument.  “Do you think you’ll be talented like your dad?” he asks her. He takes her hand and drags it across the strings. It makes a horrific sound, but Sophie smiles like it’s a symphony.

“See,” Louis laughs. “She’s a natural already.”

Harry’s smile is brighter than it has been in a long time. It makes Louis proud to think that he’s at least some of the reason for it.

*

It’s a few weeks later when Harry is trying his best to calm Sophie down while they’re waiting at the doctor’s. She has been crying non-stop for the last forty-eight hours and neither him or Louis could figure out why.

Lou came over a couple of days ago and noticed Sophie holding her left ear a lot while she and Lux played. The next morning she woke up screaming with a fever and no way to tell them what was wrong. They gave it a day to see if she’d get any better, but now she’s not even eating so they know it’s serious.

When Harry made the decision to bring her in, Louis had already left for work so he had to call Lou to see if she knew the name of Sophie’s pediatrician. Luckily, Lux has the same one, so Lou offered to come with him.

“Does he always take this long?” Harry cradles Sophie to his chest to try and soothe her, but she pushes away from him. He doesn’t know what to do with her like this.

Lou checks the time again with apologetic eyes. “No, not usually. Hopefully he’ll be here in a minute.”

As soon as the words are out of her mouth, the door swings open to reveal a doctor who is a lot younger than Harry had expected.

He takes one look at Sophie crying and squirming around in Harry’s lap before he grins. “I can tell someone in this room isn’t feeling very well.” He turns away from the counter to nod at Lou. “How are you? How’s Lux and Tom?”

“We’re all doing fine,” she smiles. It fades when Sophie begins a new wave of loud sobs into Harry’s neck. “I’m afraid Sophie isn’t doing too well though.”

“I can hear that,” he laughs. He turns to Harry with an outstretched hand and a pair of rich brown eyes that take him by surprise. “I’m Dr. Richards. You must be one of Sophie’s new guardians. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m Harry,” he answers as he shakes Dr. Richards’ hand. Harry hasn’t been to a pediatrician since he was a child. He doesn’t remember his doctor ever smiling at him the way this one is.

“So, what’s going on with Soph?”

“She keeps holding her ear and she won’t let anyone touch it. Lou says it looks like an earache or an infection.”

He nods and writes some things down before pulling out a tool to check her ears. He picks Sophie up and rocks her for a few minutes to calm her down. He produces a shiny set of keys from his pocket and lets Sophie hold them while he examines her ear. She jerks away from him, but she isn’t screaming her head off like she did when Harry tried to take a look. He’s so fucking impressed right now.

His face must show it because Dr. Richards laughs at him when he hands Sophie back. “The key is a good distraction,” he says, pointing at the keys Sophie’s still playing with.

“So what’s wrong with her? Is it her ear like Lou said?”

Lou looks up from her phone at her name being called. She focuses back on it when she realizes that no one needs her.

Dr. Richards nods in response. “Yeah, it looks like it, but it’s not that bad. A few days’ worth of eardrops and she should be just fine.” Harry breathes a sigh of relief, causing the doctor to grin down at his tablet. He hands Harry the prescription note when he’s finished.

Harry is just about to thank him for getting them out so quickly when Dr. Richards’ asks a new question.

 “So, where is Sophie’s other guardian?”

“He’s at work right now. I let him know I was bringing Sophie in, but he couldn’t just leave work.”

“I see,” he hums his understanding. “…and how long have you two been married?”

Lou’s head snaps up from her phone and suddenly Harry is very aware of how quiet it is now that Sophie isn’t screaming.

“Uh, we’re not. Louis and I aren’t married or together or anything like that. We were friends with Liam and Niall. We’re Sophie’s godparents.”

Dr. Richards’ eyes turn incredibly soft. “It was very selfless of you to take on a child without asking any questions. Not many people could have done that,” he praises him.

Harry can see Lou watching the two of them out of the corner of her eye. She stands, claiming that she’s just missed a phone call even though it didn’t ring or vibrate. She leaves the room to go return the imaginary call. Her eyes are big and sparkly when she glances back at Harry just before slipping out of the door.

Harry feels too warm all of a sudden with Sophie pressed against him and Dr. Richards’ eyes on him. He hurries to stand and gather their things when he doesn’t know what else to do. “Thank you so much for your time, Dr. Richards.”

“You can call me Sam, and I’m happy to help. No thanks necessary,” he assures him. “Just use those ear drops twice a day and bring her back for a check-up in a week.”

Harry nods at his instructions. “Okay. We’ll be back in a week.”

Sam’s eyes are warm when Harry dares to meet them again. “I look forward to it,” he grins. Harry is just reaching for the door handle when Sam’s voice stops him. “…and you’re sure you’re not married?” He chuckles. “No boyfriend or fiancé?”

Harry can feel his cheeks warm as Sam pulls a grin out of him. “Not that I know of.” Sam seems relieved to hear it with the little breath Harry watches him release. 

Lou is all over him the moment he steps out of the room and the door shuts behind him.

“ _Oh my God,”_ she squeals through gritted teeth, like she’s barely holding it together.

Harry can’t stop grinning long enough to tell her to shut up.

The giddy, tingly feeling in his stomach is still there later when Louis gets home and asks about his day.

“How was the doctor’s? I’m sorry I couldn’t go with you.” Louis does seem sorry that he wasn’t able to be there, but with the way things went today, Harry can’t seem to mind his absence.

“It was good. Sophie’s got eardrops to take. Lou came with me,” he tells Louis with a smile. It must be a bit too bright though, because Louis suspiciously narrows his eyes at him.

“What’s up with you?” he grins after a while. “You’ve been acting strange all afternoon.”

Harry turns to him with excitement bubbling up inside of his chest. He’s been trying to keep it in, but he just has to tell somebody, and well, Louis _is_ asking.

“I think the doctor likes me,” he confesses. Even saying it makes him smile.

“The doctor as in _Sophie’s_ doctor?” Louis asks. “Are you sure? What did he say?”

Harry thinks back to earlier today when he met Sam. “It’s not really _what_ he said, but _the way_ he said it. I’m pretty sure he was hitting on me. You can even ask Lou. She was right there.”

He turns to see Louis’ face caught in some kind of torn expression. “What?” Harry asks, his smile faltering just a bit from Louis’ lack of enthusiasm over something Harry has been riding a high on all day.

“Nothing,” Louis shrugs. “I’m just curious about this doctor is all. You took Sophie in for an ear infection and you came out like _this_ ,” Louis says, pointing at the grin Harry still can’t get rid of.

“Sophie has a check-up in a week. You should come this time, Louis. It’d be nice to take her in together and then while you’re there you can meet Sam.”

Louis frowns at his words. “Who’s Sam?”

“Dr. Richards. He told me to call him Sam.”

“Wow.” Louis’ eyebrows rise a few inches. “You’re already on a first name basis.”

“Mhmm,” Harry nods, “And he seems _really_ nice, Lou, and you should’ve seen how great he was with Sophie.” Harry has never looked forward to a doctor’s appointment, but he can hardly wait for this one. “I can’t believe I’m actually _excited_ to go back to the doctor.”

Louis grins at him. Harry doesn’t think he’s imagining it when it seems a bit tight.

“That’s great, Haz.”


	7. Chapter 7

Louis doesn’t know why, but something about Harry’s story with the doctor rubs him the wrong way. He hadn’t particularly wanted to ask off from work to accompany him to Sophie’s check-up, but the more he thinks about it, the more it bothers him that he doesn’t really know anything about this man. This doctor could be anybody. Louis can’t be expected to trust a complete stranger with his goddaughter or his, well, his Harry, he guesses.

Louis checks his phone for the third time when his patience starts to wear thin. They’re only here for a bloody check-up. It could be done in five minutes if Dr. Richards would just get his arse in here.

“He’s quite punctual, isn’t he?” Louis says under his breath.

Harry rolls his eyes at him. “Shut up. He’ll be here any minute.”

He walks in not even thirty seconds later wearing a crisp white coat and a bright smile that already makes Louis feel like he’s trying too hard.

“Do you guys hear that?” he asks with his ear turned towards them.

Harry frowns. “Hear what?”

“Exactly!” Dr. Richards says. “Sophie’s not crying, so that must mean the ear drops have done their job.”

Harry’s laugh is easy when he meets his eyes. “She is feeling so much better. I could tell a difference the same day we brought her in.”

“That’s good. I’m glad she’s all better. And how are you, Harry?” he asks seamlessly as he walks over to them. He takes Sophie out of Harry’s arms and places her on the examination table to thoroughly check her ear. Harry blushes at his question.

“I’m alright. I brought Louis along this time, though. Luckily he was able to get off work to be here.”

The doctor hands Sophie back when he’s done examining her. He reaches out his hand for Louis to shake. “Hello, Louis. I’m Dr. Richards,” he introduces himself. Louis firmly grasps his hand and bites back the urge to call him Sam.

“It’s nice to meet you. I heard how great you were with Sophie, so I had to come see it for myself.” Actually, Harry told him every fucking detail of their last visit. He had been so impressed by the doctor that Louis had to come make sure he was real.

“Me? No, you should’ve seen Harry last week when Sophie was ill. He handled it like a pro. No one would’ve been able to guess that he was a first-timer in the office.”

Harry grins and flushes at the compliment, and again Louis wants to roll his eyes. He doesn’t know how the hell Lou did it last week with the two of them flirting back and forth like children.

They chat for a minute or so more and then Dr. Richards announces that he has to leave to go see another patient. Louis and Sophie are already out of the door when he hears Dr. Richards call Harry back for a moment.

Louis is a nosey bastard, so he strains his ears where the door is half open. He can’t make out a thing they’re saying, but he already knows it was something annoying when Harry comes out beaming from ear to ear.

“What’s up?” Louis asks when they’re far enough away that no one else can hear.

“He asked if he could take me out for dinner one day this week!” Harry chirps. “I said I’d have to check to make sure that you can watch Sophie, but I told him yes!”

Of course he did.

Harry and the doctor. The doctor and Harry. It doesn’t sit well with him, no matter the order.

“He’s our pediatrician, though. Is this even legal?” Louis grimaces.

Harry laughs at him. “Well he’s _Sophie’s_ doctor, not mine.”

“I don’t know,” Louis shrugs. “I still think it’s weird. I mean, he’s _examined_ her before. Don’t you think that’s kind of creepy?”

“Nope.” Harry smirks at him before getting into the car. “And he can examine _me_ anytime he wants to.”

Usually, a line like that would make Louis laugh. Today it just makes his stomach feel oddly unsettled.

 

Louis is hit with an annoying sense of deja vu three days later when Harry comes flitting down the stairs for his date with Sam.

He had been upstairs for what seemed like hours, messing with his hair and trying to find the perfect outfit. He’s been up there so long that Sophie has eaten two whole bananas in the time it has taken him to get ready.

Lou cheers when he finally walks into the room with his curls falling in waves at his shoulders. He’s wearing a navy blazer over a dark shirt that is mostly unbuttoned. His jeans are tight and black as usual, but they don’t have any holes or tears in the knees tonight. They’re in such good condition that they look brand new.

“I cannot wait to see Dr. Richards’ face when he sees you!”

Harry bites at his lip. “You really think I look okay? The jacket’s not too much?”

“No! The jacket is the best part!” Lou tells him.

Louis is so distracted by the brightness of Harry’s smile that he doesn’t even realize that Harry has been trying to get his attention.

“Louis? What do you think?” Harry blinks over at him with uncertainty.

Louis hates the way he can’t take his eyes off of him. He thinks Harry looks good even when he has just thrown something on to lounge around the house in and his hair is up in a bun. Of course Louis thinks he looks beautiful right now.

“You’re amazing, Haz.”

Harry gives him a soft smile. “Thanks, Louis.”

When the doorbell rings, Harry does a little bounce on the tips of his toes. He goes to answer it, but Lou sets down her wine to run ahead of him.

“Don’t! You’re the date! You can’t answer the door! Go pretend to be busy somewhere,” she orders.

Louis glances down at Sophie watching curiously as Harry and Lou flit around the entranceway like excited birds and Harry goes to wait somewhere in the house.

Louis briefly wonders if Harry had been this way for their failed date all those years ago. The thought makes something hot like jealousy flare up beneath his skin when Lou lets Dr. Richards inside.

Louis rolls his eyes at the predictable, neat button-down and a jacket that he’s chosen, and shoes that are so clean that there isn’t even a scuff on them. He wonders if he too stood in the mirror deliberating whether or not his outfit was too much, because Louis thinks he’s trying extremely hard with the expensive watch dangling from his wrist. Who even wears watches anymore?

He comes in to say hello to him and Sophie, but he mostly chats with Lou until Harry wanders in from the kitchen. Dr. Richards’ breaks into a smile and stops talking mid-sentence when he sees him.

Both of their faces light up and Lou skillfully slinks back into the living room so that they can admire each other. She gives Louis a look like they’re the cutest things she’s ever seen, but Louis doesn’t reciprocate it. This whole night is making his chest feel tight.

Harry comes over to kiss Sophie and tell her goodbye. She says it back, but only looks mildly concerned that he’s leaving. Dr. Richards’ wishes her a goodnight as well and then waves them all goodbye before holding the door open for Harry and ushering him out of it with a strong hand resting at the small of his back.

It’s completely silent when they leave, and Louis can’t for the life of him understand why he feels the urge to call Harry back and make up some excuse so that he can’t go. Lou places a hand on his shoulder to get his attention when they’ve been gone so long that even Sophie has lost interest in looking that way. Louis has to tear his eyes away from the door to look at Lou. Her expression is too knowing for his taste.

“I’m fine,” he says reflexively. It was clearly the wrong thing to say when Lou’s eyes soften into something like pity. She covers her heart with her hand like she can physically feel the ache in his chest.

“Oh, Louis,” she sighs. “Why haven’t you said anything?”

“About what? There’s nothing to say.”

Lou stares at him for a long time before she bursts out laughing like she can’t believe she’s having to spell this out for him.

“You’re literally seething at the door that Harry and his date just left through, and you think there’s _nothing_ going on there? Louis, _come on_.”

Louis flushes red. He’s isn’t jealous of anybody, he’s just concerned for his friend. He also kind of wants to punch Dr. Richards in the face and stomp all over his shiny shoes, but that’s normal right?

The look on Lou’s face and the anger he feels rising up at the thought of them getting serious tells Louis that it’s not fucking normal; not even a little bit.

“What am I supposed to do?” he asks pitifully as he buries his face in Sophie’s neck.

The balance that the two of them have achieved with raising Sophie is delicate enough as it is. He can’t have feelings for Harry. He just _can’t_.

Lou’s eyebrows crinkle when they meet. “Do you want the truth?” she asks. Louis really, really doesn’t. She gives it to him anyway. “Louis…you had your chance a long time ago. I don’t think it’s fair for you to ruin this with Sam because you’ve suddenly woken up and realized that he’s amazing.”

Louis has always thought that Harry’s amazing. Even from the first night they met when Harry opened the door wearing a similar, meticulously chosen outfit for him. He had seemed so excited about the dinner reservations that Louis forgot to make, and _Jesus_ , would it have killed Louis to have actually _tried_ for their date all those years ago?

“So you don’t think I should tell him?”

Lou sighs long and hard. “Only if you think what you’re feeling is serious and genuine. If it’s just some crush that’ll go away in a week’s time, then leave him alone.”

Louis nods, feeling much better about the whole situation when he thinks about it that way. Of course he loves Harry. After all of this time and the things they’ve been through together, losing him would feel like losing Liam or Niall all over again. They’re friends now. They’ve become important to each other and Louis knows that he cares about Harry; he just never thought he was _in love_ with him. He isn’t even sure if he is now, because surely these feelings will have disappeared in a few days just like Lou said.

He won’t have to say anything at all to Harry, because there will be nothing to tell. It’s just a stupid, wildly ill-advised crush.

~*~

It becomes incredibly apparent to Louis that his feelings for Harry go much deeper than a simple crush over the next few weeks. He tries everything he can think of to put Harry out of his mind, but no matter what he does he can’t seem to escape. It’s like Harry has wormed his way into his heart and Louis feels stupid for not realizing it sooner.

Harry’s dates with Sam have gotten so frequent that Louis can’t remember the last time he, Harry, and Sophie have spent a Friday or Saturday night tucked up together on the couch watching movies like they used to. Louis hadn’t realized that any private time Harry spent with him had been borrowed and that he had taken every second of it for granted.

Louis now hates it every time the doorbell rings and Dr. Richards’ walks in with a big smile. Louis hates it almost as much as he had hated that huge bouquet of roses that Harry had received the day after their first date. And it’s not like Louis isn’t happy for Harry, because honestly he enjoys seeing him smile and bask in the attention, but Louis feels like it should be him doing those things for him instead. Dr. Richards is great, amazing even, but Niall and Liam picked _them_. Their best friends _chose_ them out of everyone else in the fucking world, and Louis thinks that should count for something.

“What on Earth are you two doing?” Louis laughs as he enters the living room.

Harry smiles at him through his curtain of dark curls as Sophie brushes his hair where they’re playing on the floor. She’s going the wrong way with it, and it looks a little on the painful side from the way she’s tangling the ends, but she’s laughing and having fun while doing it and that’s the most important thing to both of them.

“I thought _you_ were supposed to be brushing _her_ hair,” Louis teases as he sits down with him. Thankfully she doesn’t try to give his locks the same treatment.

“I think she wanted to help me get ready for my date tonight,” he says as he tickles her side to make her laugh. Louis’ heart sinks.

“Oh. I didn’t know you were going out tonight.”

“Do you have plans?” Harry moves his hair out of his eyes to properly see him. “I can cancel. I didn’t see anything written on the calendar, so I just assumed you’d be here. I’m sorry. I should’ve asked.”

Louis wants to take Harry up on his offer to cancel. He wants Harry to call Sam and tell him that his invitation for dinner or sex or whatever it is they do together sounds nice, but that he’s going to stay in with Louis and his goddaughter instead.

“No, I don’t have any plans,” Louis admits. He hasn’t had plans in months. There isn’t anywhere else he wants to be besides here with Sophie and Harry. It just sucks that the Harry half of their patchwork family doesn’t seem to want the same thing.

“Oh.” Harry’s face is torn as he searches Louis’ eyes. “Well, do you mind watching Sophie for a bit tonight? I mean, I can stay here if you need me to, but I did kind of already tell Sam that I’d see him.” Louis can see another apology forming at the tip of Harry’s tongue.

“Don’t worry about us,” Louis smiles as he runs his fingers through Sophie’s freshly brushed hair. “Soph and I will have fun watching movies and eating sweets. Maybe we’ll even invite Lou and Lux over.”

Harry’s eyes are absolutely swimming with guilt. He squeezes Louis’ leg in a silent apology and the touch makes a swarm of butterflies awaken at the pit of his stomach.

“I’ll stay here next weekend so you can go out. You haven’t had a weekend to yourself in ages. It’s not fair.”

Louis doesn’t want a weekend to himself. He wants a weekend with Harry. He wants even more than that if he’s honest.

“You don’t have to do that,” Louis assures him, but Harry frowns at his refusal.

“Well I want to do something for you to make up for me always sticking you with Sophie. Maybe I can cook you dinner on Friday?”

Harry’s face is so open and hopeful that Louis says yes even though he knows Harry is only doing it to be nice. It’s not like he’s choosing him over Sam. He’s just trying to balance the scale.

*

Harry holds his breath as he watches Sophie push herself up from the floor to move in Lux’s direction. She wobbles in her upright position for a few promising seconds before her knees turn in and it sends her hurtling back down to the ground with a light thud. Harry sighs, falling back into the couch beside Lou with his arms crossed. She turns to him with a furrowed brow when he looks more than a little disappointed with Sophie’s failed attempt at taking her first steps.

“Hey,” she pokes him, “She’ll walk when she’s ready,” she tells him again for what seems like the hundredth time.

Harry appreciates her encouragement even if his current sour attitude has hardly anything to do with Sophie.

Harry can’t quite put his finger on it, but something is up with Louis. Harry has been able to tell a difference in him for at least the last month, but he doesn’t know what has changed. What’s even more frustrating is that the change is neither bad or good, he’s just _different_.

He’s around more, like pretty much all of the time now that he no longer goes out. He’s being responsible, which really shouldn’t be that big of a deal except the Louis that Harry has come to know only ever does the bare minimum of what’s expected of him. For some reason this new version of him goes above and beyond what is requested, especially if it’s something Harry has asked him to do, almost like he’s trying to prove a point.

A prime example was last night when Harry offered to watch Sophie for the weekend so that Louis could have some time to himself. Louis declined it immediately even though he’s been doing more than his fair share of babysitting lately. The old Louis would’ve jumped on that offer before Harry could even finish suggesting it. It doesn’t make any sense.

The change isn’t just with Sophie or around the house either, but also just in the way Louis _looks_ at him sometimes. He can’t read his expression, but whatever he’s thinking when Harry catches his eyes on him makes goosebumps rise up on his skin from how intense it is. It’s like he’s holding something back, something that he won’t dare say out loud and Harry has been driving himself nearly insane trying to figure it out.

“What in the world are you thinking so hard about over there?”

Lou uses her thumb to smooth out the crinkle between his eyebrows as he frowns at nothing.

Harry sighs again, still unable to figure out what the hell is going on. “Something’s wrong with Louis.” Harry rushes to clarify when Lou’s expression turns worried. “Not like that, just, something’s bothering him or he’s not acting like himself. He- I don’t know. He’s been acting so _weird_ lately.”

“Weird, how?” she asks suspiciously.

Harry shakes his head, not sure if he can pinpoint one specific incident in which Louis has displayed strange behavior. There are so many to choose from.

“Like how much more serious and quiet he is now, or how he never goes out anymore. I can’t remember the last time I saw him do something for himself that didn’t involve either me or Sophie. He acts like he’s scared to be alone in a room with me, but at the same time he seems almost sad whenever I tell him I’m not going to be around.”

Lou’s confused expression changes into recognition as she avoids making eye contact with him. Similarly, Harry has noticed Louis doing the same fucking thing lately. Whatever is up with him, Lou is certainly aware.

When she finally meets his eyes she stares at him for a long time.

“Have you tried talking to him?” she asks quietly.

“He won’t talk to me. I’ve tried, but he always seems so… so _miserable_. Like, I know our year has been tough and we’ve been through a lot, but I thought we were actually doing alright with all things considered. It felt like we were just starting to get things right. I didn’t realize that Soph and I were making him feel so fucking trapped.”

Lou’s face is set in an offended scowl at his words. Harry can’t say it’s a reaction he expected.

“That’s not it at all, Harry. He doesn’t _hate_ you, he-” She stops mid-sentence like she’s saying something that she shouldn’t. She lets out a frustrated huff as she slouches back into the couch. “You need to talk to him, Haz.”

Harry rolls his eyes. “What’s the point? Clearly he’s been talking to _you_ , so that must mean it’s me he’s got the problem with.”

Lou shakes her head. “I’m telling you, you’ve got it all wrong. It’s not what you think.”

“Then tell me what’s going on,” Harry begs. “He’s been hot and cold for _weeks_. One minute he’s laughing with me about something dumb and the next he’s avoiding me like I’ve done something to hurt him.”

“It’s not my place to tell you how he’s feeling,” Lou says. Harry can’t believe she’s keeping secrets for Louis. He also can’t believe that he’s stooping as low as badgering her to find out what he’s hiding.

“I’m cooking him dinner on Friday,” Harry reveals. “I offered to watch Sophie so he could go out. He said no of course, but he seemed to like the dinner idea.”

Lou’s grin is easy as she squeezes his arm. “That’ll be nice. It’ll give you two the chance to talk like actual adults…then you won’t have to pester me,” she mutters under her breath.

~*~

Over the next week, Harry catalogues every incidence of weirdness that he notices between the two of them.

Harry was rushing around after his shower to get ready for work one day and tripped over one of Sophie’s bottles. He went crashing down to the floor and accidentally brought Louis with him and got his clothes all wet. Instead of the angry expression Harry expected to find, Louis’ eyes had gone soft and fond as he laughed at Harry’s clumsiness and helped him up on his feet. It was a stark contrast to the day prior when Harry had pulled away from kissing Sophie goodbye to see Louis’ face tight and uncomfortable from how close they had been with Louis holding her.

His moods change like the wind, so Harry can’t tell if there’s a pattern or any correlation with his strangeness, but Harry is sure now more than ever that whatever it is, is linked directly to him in some way.

He knows because Tom hugged Louis a few days ago and he was fine. Harry squeezed his waist to get his attention in the kitchen while they were cleaning up and he gasped like he’d been slapped. Lou invited them over for dinner and he smiled the entire night, but when Harry mentioned that he was going to invite Sam to come as well he got quiet and had a hard time meeting his eyes anymore like Harry had offended him somehow.

He knows that Lou says that Louis isn’t mad at him, but Harry just doesn’t believe that. His stomach twists at the thought of Louis harboring some secret grudge against him for something Harry doesn’t even remember doing intentionally, so when Friday arrives Harry musters his courage and decides to bring it up.

Louis gets home after work and immediately scoops Sophie up from the floor where she was beating a wooden spoon against a set of pots.

“Whose idea was it to let her have drum practice in the middle of the kitchen?” Louis laughs.

“Sophie’s. She opened the cabinets and pulled all that stuff out on her own. ”

Louis gasps at her like he’s scandalized she would ever do such a thing. It makes her face break out into a wide, toothy smile. “I guess we’ll have to do some toddler-proofing. She’ll be walking soon; running around causing mayhem.”

Louis says it like he can’t wait for her to start wreaking havoc. It’ll definitely be a change from having to carry her everywhere she goes.

“Would you mind getting her dressed for me?” Harry asks with his head in the freezer as he searches for the chicken he needs to defrost. “It’s cold out.”

“Sure. What for? I thought you were cooking for us tonight.”

“I am,” Harry tells him once he’s located the chicken. “Lou offered to watch her for a bit. It’s just going to be us tonight.”

Louis stops Sophie from sticking her fingers in his mouth to look at him with uncertainty.

“Why?”

Harry shrugs, trying to read him and whether or not he’s okay with this. “Why not? We haven’t had time to just sit down and talk in a while. I thought it’d be nice.”

Louis raises an eyebrow like Harry’s reasoning makes sense. Harry can hardly believe it when a small smile spreads across his face.

“Yeah, okay. I’d like that.”

Harry smiles back at him before he leaves to go get Sophie ready to brave the cold. He sighs thinking about the tiny white lie he told about Lou offering to babysit. He all but begged her to do it, because he wants to fix whatever’s going on between him and Louis and they can’t do that if they’re constantly worrying about Sophie.

Louis has her dressed in about ten minutes, which is pretty impressive considering the fight she put up this morning when Harry gave her a bath. He’s busy with the food, so Louis volunteers to take her over to Lou’s. Harry is thankful. Now he doesn’t have to see Lou’s chastising glare for essentially trapping Louis into a dinner to make him talk and confess whatever’s going on with him.

The food is nowhere near ready when Louis gets back. He offers to help cook, but Harry dismisses him to go unwind since he just got off work. Louis doesn’t listen of course, but he does go take a shower. When he’s done, he comes back down to the kitchen and perches himself up on the counter to keep Harry company.

The mood is easy between them as they chat about their days. He lets Louis pick the topics as he swings his feet back and forth, watching as their meal comes together. He looks so happy right now.

When the food is ready they sit down at the table across from each other.

“I’m really glad we decided to do this,” Louis tells him with a grin.

Harry takes a couple of bites of his food before nodding in agreement. “Me too. We haven’t talked in a while. I think I was starting to miss you,” he jokes. Louis breathes a laugh. His cheeks are pink when he meets Harry’s eyes again. Harry expects Louis to jokingly say that he’s missed him too, but he just continues to smile to himself. Harry changes the subject.

“So…” he begins. “It’s almost December which means your birthday is coming up soon. What kind of crazy rave are you throwing this year to celebrate?”

Louis doesn’t seem keen on this new topic of conversation when he takes a while to answer. “Uh, I don’t think I’m going to make a big deal this year…I probably won’t do much.”

Harry narrows his eyes at him. It’s comments like this that let him know something’s up.

“But you love your birthday, Louis. You’ve thrown a huge party every year since I’ve known you. Why wouldn’t you celebrate this year?”

Louis shrugs. “I don’t really see my old friends anymore and it’ll feel wrong without Niall and Liam there. I’m fine without it this year.” Louis tries to leave it at that, but Harry can’t let it go.

“That’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about…” he begins carefully. “You aren’t really acting like yourself. You never see people or go out anymore…”

“I see people,” Louis insists.

Harry rolls his eyes. “I mean people besides like co-workers, Lou and Tom, Sophie, and _me_ obviously.”

Louis looks away, clearly uncomfortable.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Well, nothing really... It’s just not like you. I’ve been out more than you these last few weeks and that seems odd considering you used to be the one always out having fun.”

“I have fun when I’m at home with you and Sophie,” he argues. “I’m enjoying myself right now having dinner with you. I don’t need to see anybody or go anywhere else.”

His words are flattering, but they’re also not very Louis. “It’s interesting you say that you like spending time together. Sometimes I think you can’t stand being in the room with me…”

Louis eyes him with apprehension.

“Harry, that’s not- What are you talking about?”

“About you being mad at me or whatever has been going on between us. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice how weird you’ve been acting towards me? I know something’s wrong, Louis, so just tell me what I did so that I can fix it.”

Louis drops his fork, letting it clatter onto his plate. “So this is why you wanted to have dinner and you sent Sophie away?” Louis laughs bitterly to himself. “And here I thought you actually-”

Louis doesn’t finish whatever he was going to say, which only further infuriates him. Why can’t he just say what the fuck he means?

“Look, I know that I’ve been gone a lot, especially since I’ve been seeing Sam, but-”

Louis’ bored groan cuts him off. It’s the first characteristically rude thing that he’s done all night. At least now he’s acting like himself.

“Can we _please_ not bring him up right now?” he begs.

Harry throws his hands up, exasperated already. “You know, I’m starting to think that you don’t really like him.”

“Good. That’s because I don’t,” Louis spits back.

Harry sits up in his chair, outraged. “And why not? What’s wrong with him? What, do you think he’s too old for me, too good for me?”

Louis’ blatant dislike of the man he’s seeing had gotten him all worked up and defensive, but Louis’ pained expression makes the anger drain out of him almost as quickly as it arrived.

“No,” he whispers. “He’s perfect for you.”

Harry sobers at the way he says it; his tone faint and almost defeated. “Louis,” he tries, but Louis sighs and holds his head in his hands.

“I don’t want to talk about this, Harry. There’s no point.”

Harry can’t believe that Louis’ okay with just ignoring whatever is going on here. Harry can’t pretend that everything is fine, when it’s so obvious that it’s not.

“Louis, how can you say that? How are we supposed to live together and raise Sophie for the next eighteen years if you can’t even talk to me about what’s going on? We should be able to tell each other _anything_ at this point and you’re shutting me out. What the fuck is your problem?”

Louis’ eyes flash up to his in an instant at Harry’s harsh tone. The two of them have to be so careful with their language and the way they speak to each other these days that it feels good to say everything he’s been thinking. He’s glad Sophie isn’t in the house right now. She doesn’t need to hear them arguing.

“I shut you out because even if you knew why everything is so fucked up it wouldn’t matter because it’s not like you’ll ever feel the same way about me. Why bring it up when you knowing isn’t going to change anything?”

Louis’ chair scrapes against the floor when he stands to leave. Harry wants to tell him to come back because they aren’t done, but he is frozen, his mind replaying Louis’ words in his head. His voice remembers how to work when Louis is almost out of the room.

“Lou, what the hell are you talking about? What do you mean?”

Louis stops and shakes his head like he doesn’t even want to bother explaining himself, but then he turns to meet his gaze and his blue eyes are glossy as they well up with tears.

He’s holding them back from falling, but even so, Harry hasn’t seen him look this broken in a long time. He stands to pull Louis into a hug, but Louis takes a deliberate step back. Harry stands there with his arms hanging awkwardly at his sides, not knowing what to do or how to fix whatever he has done that is causing Louis to feel this way.

“Louis, talk to me,” he pleads once again.

Louis looks like he’d rather the floor open up and swallow him whole, but eventually he does say something; it’s just not at all what Harry expected.

“I wanted you to choose me instead of him.”


	8. Chapter 8

Louis wants to reel the words back into his mouth as soon as he says them, but the sudden realization that dawns on Harry’s face relieves him from the stress of holding it all inside, so actually, he’s glad that Harry dragged it out of him.

He watches Harry’s expression change into something more sympathetic and forgiving as he slowly starts putting all of the pieces together, but his eyes remain confused as he shakes his head.

“But- Louis, why didn’t you  _say_ anything? he asks, sounding mortified. “This whole time you’ve let me go on and on about Sam and- You should’ve told me!”

He says it like admitting that he’s in love with him is such an easy thing to do. Louis would’ve stopped him from leaving the house that first night and told him if he thought it would’ve made an ounce of a difference.

“It’s not like it would’ve mattered even if I did. I had my chance with you and I blew it. You’re never going to feel the way that I do.”

Harry’s face crumples in what Louis is sure is pity. He doesn’t want it. He also doesn’t want to hear Harry’s letdown when he says that Louis’ confession is too late, but he knows it’s coming.

Harry steps forward to take his hands and Louis immediately pulls away. “It’s fine, Harry. Let’s just pretend I never said anything, yeah?”

Harry, the stubborn prick, holds Louis still and places his palm against his cheek in a move that makes Louis’ breath catch in his throat as Harry stares down at him.

“You should’ve told me,” he whispers, before stepping even closer and slowly leaning in.

Harry kissing him isn’t something that Louis is prepared for, so his heart starts pounding the moment he realizes what’s happening.

Their lips meet, and Harry’s are so tentative that Louis hates to even breathe, terrified of shattering the moment between them. He kisses him carefully like he’s trying Louis on for size to see if the two of them fit after all of this time, but Louis already knows that they do.

He should’ve kissed Harry the night they met instead of leaving to fuck some boy that Louis can’t even remember the name of. He should’ve kissed Harry every day since then, and the desperation he feels knowing that he’s wasted all of this time makes his stomach crawl with how stupid he was.

He opens his mouth to Harry to try and make up for it, and grips his hands behind his neck to pull him closer. Harry’s tongue slides in next to his and it makes chills spark down his spine from finally being able to feel him this way.

He isn’t sure who starts moving first, but they begin walking into the living room with their mouths still connected like leaving any space between them is out of question. They fall onto the couch and land on top of a couple of Sophie’s dolls and a rogue shoe that has been missing for days. Harry laughs as he pulls the items from under his back.

Harry meets his eyes and for the first time, Louis thinks they’re displaying a mirror image of how he feels whenever he thinks about him. Harry’s thumb caresses the side of his face as he places a chaste kiss on Louis’ jaw.

“We can’t do this in here,” he chuckles, holding the shoe and both of the dolls in one of his large hands. He hastily drops them to the floor when Louis gets up to lead him up the stairs.

Harry’s room is the closest, so they linger in front of the door as Louis determinedly licks into his mouth. He blindly reaches for the handle, but Harry stops him with a hand pressed gently against his chest.

“My room’s a mess and the bed’s too small. I don’t want to go in there.”

Louis frowns at him. Like he gives a shit about Harry’s dirty clothes lying on the floor at a time like this? “I already know you’re disgusting. I live with you remember?” he jokes.

Harry fondly pinches him before his eyes turn serious. “I mean it,” he grins. “Let’s go to their room. The bed is huge and it’s clean.”

Louis doesn’t argue with him. At this point he’ll do whatever Harry tells him with pleasure so long as he keeps smiling at him like that.

The master bedroom is a lot bigger than any other room in the house. It used to be off limits back during the days when neither of them could stand being in there, but now the king-sized bed in all of its oversized glory feels inviting as they fall onto it.

They’re wrapped up in each other, with Louis trying his best to keep himself in line. It’s hard to do with the way Harry’s thighs are draped open and bracketed around Louis’ hips as he leaves a trail of dark bruises down the side of Louis’ neck.

Harry gets impatient with the collar of his t-shirt when there’s no more skin exposed to him. He meets Louis’ eyes to silently ask if he can take it off and then slowly pulls it over his head.

He marvels at Louis’ skin like it’s his first time really seeing it as he continues kissing down his torso. Louis has imagined Harry touching him this way since they met each other, but he could never admit it. He always knew there was a mutual attraction there underneath all the teasing and the banter, but he never imagined it would overwhelm him like this.

When Louis’ pulse is racing from Harry sucking at his skin, he moves to remove Harry’s shirt as well. He gets a bit ahead of himself when he goes for his jeans too. His eyes flash up to Harry’s in a silent apology, but Harry’s pupils are blown wide as he nods and gives Louis the okay to strip him.

Harry is already hard where the tip of his dick is poking out of the elastic of his underwear. Louis holds off on removing them though, and slots their bodies together again for another kiss. Louis’ getting as desperate as Harry sounds, breathing harshly into his mouth each time Louis’ thigh presses against him. Harry eventually gets fed up with not being touched and sits up to crawl to the edge of the bed and dig through the bedside table.

They had come across Liam and Niall’s sex drawer when they came in to tidy up all those months ago; a scandalous discovery that had initially made Louis want to gouge out his eyes, but now that he’s sitting here, straining against his joggers with Harry half naked beside him, he can’t help but send up a silent thank you to his friends for purchasing a lifetime supply of lube that neither him or Harry had the heart to throw out. Harry doesn’t even read the label as he throws a random bottle onto the bed, followed by a condom he had to grab from a box that had never been opened.

Harry sheds the rest of his clothing before coming back to untie the string of Louis’ joggers and tosses them over the edge of the bed with the rest of their clothes. He lies back down in the center of the bed and pulls Louis on top of him for a heated kiss that has Louis biting back involuntary sounds each time Harry drags his teeth over his skin. Harry grabs the bottle of lube and presses it into his hand.

Louis swiftly uncaps it even though his hands are shaking, he pours some onto his fingers and watches Harry’s eyes darken when he works his finger inside of him.

He doesn’t know if Harry and Sam have been having sex or not, but it’s been so long for Louis that the tight heat squeezing his knuckles is almost too much for him. Harry grips into the sheets when Louis’ fingers pull a long awaited moan from his throat. He keeps working at a steady pace until Harry’s stomach muscles start fluttering out of control.

His fingers are wet, so Harry opens the condom for him. He impatiently bites at his lip as Louis rolls it on and coats himself in more lube. Louis looms over him to recapture his lips before pushing his legs back a bit further to line himself up. He’s glad no one else is in the house when he pushes in and they both let obnoxious sounds rip from their throats.

It really has been too long since Louis has been with anybody and the fact that he’s fucking Harry only makes it that much harder for him. He’s really concentrating on not coming too early, but every thrust he makes has Harry moaning beside himself as he tries to meet his movements, kiss Louis, and stroke himself at the same time. Louis has seen Harry in a lot of predicaments including stumbling down the stairs and somehow getting Sophie’s shit on his face after changing her, but watching him in his desperation as he writhes beneath him has to be the most amusing sight that Louis’ ever witnessed.

“What are you laughing at?” Harry breathes.

His words get choked off from the force of a particularly hard thrust. It only makes Harry tug more fiercely at himself.

“You, still trying to control everything,” Louis smirks. He hasn’t teased him in a while. It feels good to do so again.

“Shut up,” Harry tells him around another moan. “I want to come,” he whines.

“Don’t worry, love. I’ll get you there,” Louis says as he leans down to bite a bruise into the side of his neck.

Harry whines when Louis knocks his hand out of the way and replaces it with own to jerk Harry in an easy, steady rhythm.

Harry is flushed from neck down as shaky breaths leave him in short bursts, and Louis is doing his best to hold himself together long enough to do what he just promised. He grins with relief when Harry tells him that he‘s close and then comes between them with a sharp gasp. Louis doesn’t last much longer before he’s gripping into Harry’s skin and coming so hard that he’s nearly breathless afterwards.

The world comes back into focus when he feels Harry running his fingers through his damp hair. He makes himself throw away the condom and then comes back to sit awkwardly at the edge of the bed, unsure of whether or not Harry is a cuddler and if he’d even want that with Louis.

Harry is still grinning and looking at him the way he did when he first kissed him, so he crawls up to lie beside him. He sighs when Harry resumes carding through his hair, peppering soft kisses along his warm skin.

“I wish you would’ve told me sooner,” he says later when they’re lying side by side and facing each other. He squeezes Louis’ hand where he’s holding it between them and looks almost sad at how much time they’ve wasted.

“I know. I’m sorry. I just- at first I wasn’t sure if what I was feeling was real and then Sam came into the picture… I thought I didn’t stand a chance.”

“You and Sophie are always going to be my first choice, Lou, no matter what. We’re in this together, remember? We’re a team.” Louis’ heart is full when he closes the space between them to bring their lips together. They both pull back with matching smiles.

“What do you think Liam and Niall would say if they could see us?” Harry asks.

Louis thinks Liam would first have a fit over them being naked in his nice sheets and Niall would probably pat him on the back for finally getting his shit together.

“I think they’d gloat and say it’s about time,” Louis laughs. “They wanted us together so badly that they even gave us their kid. I think they’d be really happy for us.”

“Yeah. I think so too,” Harry whispers.

 

They lie together for a long time before they drag themselves up to get dressed and go get Sophie. They walk side by side with their arms brushing as they cut across Lou and Tom’s frozen lawn. When Louis rings the doorbell they can hear Lou grumbling and complaining as she makes her way down the stairs to them.

“Well, that was the longest dinner I’ve ever heard of. Do you know what bloody time it is? Do you-”

Her words falter when she wrenches open the door and sees the two of them shivering on her doorstep. Her eyes fall on the state of Louis’ hair and the bruises and marks dotted along Harry’s exposed neck because he forgot to grab a scarf on the way out the door.

“Oh my god,” she breathes and then places a hand over her mouth as she continues to gawk at the sight of them snuggled side by side in the cold.

Harry is fighting to keep a straight face when he clears his throat. “Hi. Uh, we’re here to pick up Sophie. Sorry it’s so late. We lost track of time.”

Lou looks between the pair of them like she still can’t believe her eyes.

“Um, o-okay,” she says dumbly. “Give me a minute.” She walks into the house and comes back a few seconds later holding a sleeping Sophie already dressed in her coat and mittens.

Louis takes her in his arms and fights a grin of his own as he thanks her for babysitting. She nods and tells them it was no problem as they bid her goodnight.

The door isn’t even closed for ten seconds before they hear her rapid footsteps as she takes off running up the stairs to wake Tom up.

Back at their house, they take Sophie to her room and attempt to get her dressed for bed without waking her. It doesn’t work, so he and Harry both spend time rocking her back to sleep before finally laying her down in her crib for the night.

Louis gently closes the door as they step out of her nursery. He sighs, leaning against it, still unable to believe how brilliantly this night has turned out.

“I’m going to go clean up the kitchen since we left all of that food down there,” he informs Harry.

He pushes himself off of the door and he’s delightfully surprised when Harry leans down and kisses him to stop him from going anywhere.

“Leave it until tomorrow. Come back to bed with me,” he says with his most enticing grin. It’s a waste because Louis doesn’t even need to be convinced. He’ll do whatever Harry asks of him at this point.

They forgo stopping by their own rooms, choosing instead to walk hand in hand to the master bedroom to get ready for bed. Neither of them has ever spent a night in here. Louis can tell there’s some hesitance when they turn back the sheets, but when they climb in together and slot side by side, every worry Louis had about them feeling uncomfortable in Niall and Liam’s old room vanishes.

“Haz…are you alright?” Louis asks, mindful of how being in their room always seemed to bother Harry more than him.

“Mmhmm,” Harry nods where he’s snuggled against Louis’ chest. He drops a kiss there that tingles his skin. “I know this is what they wanted and that they’re happy for us wherever they are.”

Louis falls asleep knowing that Harry is absolutely right.

*

December rolls in, and with it comes a feeling of such joy that Harry has trouble believing that this is his reality.

He let Sam know that he couldn’t see him anymore the morning after he and Louis woke up in bed together wearing the same deliriously happy smiles as the night before. Sam had immediately guessed the reason behind Harry’s sudden change of heart, and admitted that he was surprised Harry had never noticed how much Louis cared for him when it’s so painfully obvious to everyone around them. Sam said that he understood the situation and then wished him luck with his new relationship and family; something that Harry knows they’re going to need a lot of.

Living with Louis is nothing new since the two of them have been doing it all of this time, but being with him as more than just a housemate is definitely an adjustment. They still argue over stupid stuff like whose job it really is to clean the toilet, but it’s so much better fighting with him now because afterwards they get to make up. Louis is still an annoying prick at times, but he’s also one of the most charming men that Harry has ever seen when he puts his mind to it, so really, how much can Harry want to strangle him when he gets home a couple of minutes late or forgets to take out the garbage?

It takes a week of the two of them sleeping in the master bedroom by night and running back and forth to their old rooms for clothing and toothpaste by day before they bite the bullet and agree to move all of their things in. They put what’s left of Liam and Niall’s belongings into boxes for Sophie when she’s older. They save letters, books, photos, and even Sophie’s adoption papers for the day she wants to get to know her parents on her own without Harry and Louis having to tell her about them. Harry and Louis converge all of their belongings into their friends’ old room and within a week it looks as messy and lived in as it had in its former glory days when Niall’s underwear used to litter the floor.

It’s a Wednesday night when Louis slides next to him onto the couch where he and Sophie are reading a book together. He nuzzles into Harry’s neck to breathe him in and drops a kiss there that makes Harry forget that he’s supposed to be voicing characters for Sophie’s story. Louis grins at the way his words falter then sits back to listen almost as attentively as Sophie.

It’s late and a bit past her bedtime, so Sophie is already asleep by the time the story is finished. Harry cuddles her into his side, and when he looks up he finds Louis watching them with warm eyes.

“Do you have any plans for the weekend?”

Harry breathes a laugh, looking around at what they’re currently doing. “Uh, I’ll pretty much be doing more of this, I guess?” he answers. Louis is still watching him fondly when he nervously bites down on his bottom lip.

“I want to take you out.”

“What, like on a _date_?” Harry laughs, mindful of Sophie snoozing against him. There was once a time when no one was allowed to mention the two of them and the word date in the same breath.

“Yeah,” Louis smiles. “Why not?”

He and Louis have been together every day since Sam. A real date with him sounds lovely, but Harry isn’t sure that it’s really needed at this point considering the little girl napping against him.

“It’ll be a little out of order, don’t you think?”

“Everything about us has been out of order,” Louis argues. “Come on,” he grins. “Let me make up for that horrible date I took you on the first time.”

“We didn’t even make it out of the drive the first time,” Harry smirks. Louis fondly rolls his eyes at him.

“You’re still bitter about that, love? Come _on_ ,” he says with a slight pout, “I want to take you out. It can be my birthday gift from you.”

“You want to take _me_ out for _your_ birthday?”

Harry isn’t certain, but he’s pretty sure that it should be the other way around. Louis leans in to steal a kiss from his lips. He’s grinning like he always is when he pulls away, but Harry can tell he means every word when he says, “Being able to call you my date would be my absolute pleasure.”

And so, that’s how Harry ends up in his old room on Saturday night, trying on everything he owns as he meticulously arranges his curls in the mirror. There’s a nervous sort of excitement thrumming through his veins as he gets ready. The feeling only intensifies when he thinks about Louis up in the attic doing the exact same thing as him, hopefully wearing actual trousers this time, of course.

Harry checks his reflection again before deeming himself suitable enough for their date. He heads downstairs to find Lou and Tom waiting on the couch with Sophie and Lux sitting between them. He gets a large round of applause for his efforts when they see him. Even Sophie claps although she’s just doing it because everyone else is, but it still makes his cheeks warm.

“You look amazing!” Lou tells him. Her compliment makes him bite down onto his lip. He knows he looks good, he spent a long time upstairs, but what everyone doesn’t know is that he only tried this hard because he wants to be the best date that he can be for Louis.

He takes a seat in the armchair and tries not to mess with his hair or feel too anxious as he waits for the birthday boy to come down. There are butterflies in his stomach. He didn’t even feel this way when he went out with Sam for the first time.

Tom smirks at him when he takes a deep breath and starts fidgeting with a random ornament on their Christmas tree in lieu of meeting anyone’s eyes.

“Ah, young love,” he sighs.

Harry rolls his eyes. “Shut up. You and Lou are like, two years older than us.”

Harry checks his phone for the time and starts drumming his fingers against the leg that he can’t stop bouncing up and down. He doesn’t understand why he’s so anxious when he keeps telling himself that it’s just _Louis._ He’s the same man that Harry has known all of these years, but even as he thinks it, Harry knows it isn’t true, because he and Louis couldn’t be further from the people they were when they first met, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

He doesn’t have to wait much longer for the birthday boy to make his appearance when Lou gasps at the sight of him as he’s walking into the room. Everyone’s head turns in his direction and a new round of applause breaks out that’s even louder than the one he got. Harry doesn’t clap and cheer with them because he’s so awestruck by how good he looks.

His black jeans hug him in every place that Harry wants to touch and his hair is swept back in a style that Harry has never seen him wear in his life. He’s wearing a dark t-shirt with the logo of some band that Harry doesn’t listen to, but it’s all brought together with a dark jacket with the sleeves rolled up to expose the various tattoos on his forearms. Harry is honestly speechless. He didn’t even know Louis _owned_ a blazer.

“I’m so impressed with the quiff!” Lou tells him. “I don’t even think _I_ could’ve done a better job!”

Tom echoes her sentiments by telling him how sleek he looks, and Louis thanks him with a shy grin.

It goes quiet when everyone has praised his efforts except Harry who is still gawking at him. “Louis,” he breathes. “You look _amazing_.”

Louis bites down on a smile at Harry words. He starts messing with the lapels of his jacket when he notices everyone staring at them.

“Well, it’s just a jacket,” he says as he adjusts it on his shoulders, but Harry can tell that he loves the attention. God, he even shaved, Harry notices as he continues to stare. “Are you ready, love?” he asks with a smile in his direction.

Harry nods and gets up to go stand next to him, but not before stopping by the couch to kiss Sophie goodbye. He hugs Lou and Tom for babysitting and places a kiss on top of Lux’s head as well before making his way over to him.

Louis grabs his coat and shrugs it on. Harry reaches for his own coat and is impressed when Louis is already holding it open for him to slip on. Lou shoots him a look of surprise from the couch when Louis holds the door open for him as well. They promise to be back soon just before Louis ushers him outside.

They walk past Louis’ bike, which hasn’t moved much since the weather turned cold. Harry laughs under his breath at the sight of it.

“You’re not going to try to put me on the back of this thing again?”

Louis rolls his eyes and digs Harry’s car keys out of his coat pocket. “I remember the look of terror in your eyes from the first time I tried that, and plus is freezing out. We’ll take your car, if you don’t mind.”

Harry remembers thinking Louis was some kind of practical joke in a pair of old Converse shoes when he tried to get him to ride this thing. Harry loves the way Louis looks on it though, and the image of clinging to him as they drive through the streets is way more enticing than it used to be.

“I wouldn’t mind riding it one day. You could teach me.”

Louis’ eyes travel the length of his legs as he goes to straddle it. He sits down on it and dislodges the kick stand to feel the weight of the bike as he tries to keep it balanced. It’s fucking heavy.  No wonder Louis’ thighs look as fit as they do.

“I was actually thinking about selling it,” he admits. “It’s not really practical, especially with Sophie. I thought about getting a car, so I don’t have to borrow yours anymore.”

Harry tries to imagine Louis without all of the parts of him that make him, well, _Louis._ His bike isn’t necessarily a vital piece of him, but it’s something that Louis holds dear. Harry doesn’t like picturing him without it.

“Don’t sell it. It’s important to you. I don’t mind us sharing my car.”

Louis runs his hands over the cold metal like the thought of getting rid of it hurts. Hopefully he’ll reconsider.

“You just know how hot you’ll look on the back of it,” Louis grins. He shrugs after another fond glance at it. He takes Harry’s hand to help him off of it and places the kickstand back down. “I don’t have to decide tonight,” he says as he leads him to the car.

He holds the door open for Harry on the passenger’s side and then walks over to the driver’s side to slide in behind the wheel. He turns the ignition and changes the radio until it’s playing something that both of them like. He discreetly checks his reflection in the rearview mirror before adjusting it to his height, and Harry can’t take his eyes off of him.

“So, how am I doing so far with first date, take two?” he asks with a grin.

“Brilliantly. I didn’t even know your hair could do that.” Louis laughs at his joke, but Harry’s being mostly serious. He never expected all of this when Louis asked to take him out. “Where are we going?”

“I’m glad you asked. We have reservations at _La Grenouille_ for eight-thirty.” Harry consults his phone and sees that they have more than enough time to get there. “I called to confirm while I was upstairs getting dressed, and told them to expect us on time.”

Louis laughs into his mouth when Harry stretches across the console to kiss him. Louis has honestly outdone himself.

“You’re supposed to kiss me at the _end_ of the night,” Louis points out.

“I think you’ve earned more than a just kiss at the door for all of this.”

He hums at Harry’s tone like the pieces of the night are all falling into place.

“That’s exactly what I was hoping for.”

*

Louis has enjoyed every second of the smile that Harry has been wearing all night. It’s just that, this date is something that should’ve happened a long time ago, and finally being here with Harry feels better than he ever imagined.

He’s proud of himself for being the cause of Harry’s happiness lately, and he’s proud of the both of them for being the best parents and the best family that they can be for Sophie. Louis thought everything was over for him all those months ago when the two of them got dropped into this life and his friends were taken away, but he didn’t realize that everything was really just starting. He’s in love with Harry and he loves Sophie more than he ever thought possible, and he feels the gravity of all of it deep inside of his chest.

They get home a little after ten to find Lou and Tom still snuggled on their couch in front of the tv with Lux sleeping peacefully in Tom’s arms.

Harry fixes his face so that he isn’t giggling anymore, but Louis still can tell that he’s a bit tipsy from the sparkly quality of his eyes as he tries to be quiet.

“Someone’s been drinking,” Lou sings in Harry’s direction. Harry doesn’t bother to hide his grin as he takes off his coat. Louis is just hanging his on the hook when she asks them about their night. “So, how was your very first date?” she chirps.

Louis answers for them. “It was great. The best birthday present ever.” Lou keeps looking at him like she wants more details. “We’re pretty tired from all the fun,” he says around a very large, fake yawn.

Tom and Lou exchange an unconvinced look.

“Yeah, right. You two are probably going to jump each other as soon as we leave,” Tom laughs.

Louis didn’t want to be rude and tell them to get out, but they’ve been on their best behavior in public all night, they just had their first date ever, and well it _is_ his birthday, so.

“Oh, no,” Louis insists. “You don’t have to rush off...” He wants to cheer when they start moving to collect Lux and head in the direction of the door.

“Save it. We’re leaving,” Lou tells him with a fond roll of her eyes. Tom makes sure they’re all warm and bundled up before holding the door open. Lou hugs them both when she walks by, squeezing Louis extra hard as she tells him Happy Birthday. “You better treat my Haz right,” she winks.

“Always,” he calls back to her just before the door closes.

Contrary to what Tom predicted, they don’t jump each other as soon as the door closes. Honestly, Louis is a bit surprised considering the looks they’ve been giving each other all night. Harry leans down to press a promising kiss to his lips. He takes Louis’ hand and slowly leads the way upstairs.

They don’t head straight to their bedroom, stopping off in Sophie’s nursery first to check on her. Harry bends over the crib to lightly kiss her forehead as she sleeps. Louis’ heart warms watching the two of them. Harry’s hair is in his eyes when he straightens back up again and Louis takes great pleasure in moving the stray curls behind his ear. He’s just so beautiful. Harry grins and gives him a similar look of fondness when Louis bends down to kiss Sophie too.

He lets Harry lead him out of the door once they’ve both said their silent goodnights. They make it to their bedroom and Louis’ heart beat races with the way Harry pulls him in. “Happy birthday,” he whispers just as their lips meet. He lets his jacket slide right off of his shoulders when Harry peels it off.

They shed their layers as they make their way to the bed, and by the time he’s undoing Harry’s belt he’s so focused on getting inside of him that he doesn’t notice the sentimental look on his face.

“What?” he asks when Harry smiles at him in a way that makes Louis’ heart race even faster. He doesn’t look like anything is the matter, but he’s looking at Louis like there’s something he needs to say.

“Is it too early for me to know that I love you? That I’m _in_ love with you?”

Louis can’t believe how incredibly light he feels from his words. He looks at Harry and how wonderful and kind he is. He’s amazing and one of the best people he’s ever known. Louis was an idiot to not have realized how amazing he was the night they met. He was in love with Harry before he even knew it. The length of time they’ve been together doesn’t matter.

“I love you too,” he says. He watches as Harry’s cheeks turn a delicious pink and a soft smile spreads across his face. Louis has never had another person look at him the way Harry is right now, and he doesn’t care if they’ve moved too fast or done everything out of order, because this life with him is the only one he wants.

*

It’s Christmas morning when Harry glances over to find Louis glaring at him from where he’s sitting on the couch. Sophie’s most recent present that she has ripped open is a plush cat with eyes made out of yarn that meows incessantly each time it’s stuffed belly gets squeezed. Sophie has been hugging it from the moment she yanked it out of the gift box, causing Louis to stare daggers at Harry since he practically begged him to leave the thing in the toy shop to begin with. Harry thought it was a brilliant gift when he saw it and he knows he was right based on how much Sophie is enjoying it. Even the tiny guitar they got her is now lying discarded in favor of it.

“You just had to pick the most annoying toy to ever exist, didn’t you?”

Harry leaves her there playing in the middle of the floor to kiss Louis’ frown away. “But she _loves_ it,” he smirks as the thing meows obnoxiously again as she squeezes it even harder.

She holds it up to show Louis and he gives her an enthusiastic smile that’s incredibly tight around the edges. “Don’t be surprised if it mysteriously disappears once she puts it down,” he says through his teeth.

Harry gasps. “You wouldn’t.”

Louis sighs. “No, I wouldn’t…but I’ll fantasize about flushing it down the toilet every single day,” he laughs. Harry kisses him again. When he pulls back Louis grabs a small box from behind his back and offers it to him. “It’s for you. I wrapped it myself.”

Harry’s eyes light up at the sight of it. Louis places it in his hands and Harry shakes his head. “I thought we weren’t going to spend money on each other?” Even as he’s saying it, Harry is working to open it.

“It’s just a tiny one,” Louis says like the gift’s size excuses the fact that they agreed to only get presents for Sophie.

Harry grins when he pulls out a bottle of his favorite cologne. The kind he’s only been using for very special occasions because his current bottle is nearly empty. There’s only a little corner of it left, but it’s so expensive that he feels bad replacing it, especially when there’ so much that Sophie needs. He didn’t think Louis had even noticed.

“So now you can use as much as you want and stop trying to make that quarter of an ounce last that’s up in our room.”

“Thank you!” Harry laughs and pulls him into a tight hug. God, he loves him. “You didn’t have to do this, you know?”

“I know, but I wanted to,” he smiles. It grows even larger when Harry pulls a flat rectangular box from beneath the couch and places it in his lap. “ _I thought we weren’t exchanging gifts_ ,” he mocks in a voice that sounds nothing like Harry’s.

“Shut up and open it,” Harry orders him. He obliges, and lets his jaw drop when he pulls out a new leather jacket. “Your old one was looking a little worn, and I know you said you were thinking about selling your bike, but I had already gotten the jacket before you told me. I really hope you change your mind,” Harry says, keeping his fingers crossed that he might.

“Well, I do look _really_ good in leather,” he sighs. Harry nods his agreement, because it’s true. He does. “I guess it’s a good thing that I decided to keep the bike since now I’ll have a new jacket to wear while I’m teaching you to ride it.”

Harry welcomes his kiss when Louis pulls him in.  

Harry gets so lost in him that he barely notices the tiny tap he feels against his leg. He breaks their kiss, and when he looks down Sophie is standing a few inches away from the couch as she hands him one of her unopened gifts from under the tree. His heart nearly stops when she turns and teeters towards the tree to grab another.

“Oh my God, Lou! _Holy shit_!” Harry says mostly as a whisper, but he’s so excited that he’s having a hard time keeping his voice down. She’s _finally_ walking.

“Shhh! You’ll startle her!” Louis whispers as he swipes through his phone to find the camera. “And don’t say shit,” he reminds him as he hits record. Harry still can’t believe it as he watches Sophie take two more deliberate steps to reach for another present wedged under the tree, clearly figuring out that each of them contains something fun inside for her. “I can’t believe this. She’s just walking for the gifts!” Louis says, sounding scandalized. “We’ve been trying to get her to do that for _months._ ”

Harry snorts a laugh at his pouting, feeling so proud of her that he could burst. He doesn’t care what her motivation was for taking her first steps. Their little girl is walking on her own, and that’s the best Christmas gift he could ask for.


	9. Chapter 9

Summer 2016

Nearly an entire year has passed when Sophie turns two years old. He feels like it was just yesterday when they were told that Liam and Niall wouldn’t be coming back, but somewhere between all the changes they’ve had to adjust to he and Harry stopped referring to themselves as Sophie’s guardians and realized that they’re her parents.

He can’t believe how far the three of them have come since her first birthday where he and Harry could hardly stand to take a photograph together without arguing. Their friends had set them up years ago in hopes that they would work out, and despite the two of them fucking it up at nearly every turn, they ended up together anyway. Everyone they know comes out to celebrate Sophie officially becoming a toddler, but it’s really a celebration of the three of them making it here.

Sophie blows out her birthday candles with his and Harry’s help, and she still eats the cake like a caveman, but she’s so happy that no one even cares as she runs around getting her chocolatey handprints all over everything.

Louis looks around at all of their guests after a while of not seeing either his boyfriend or his daughter among them. Louis asks around and most people say they saw them headed towards the stairs, so Louis heads in that direction too.

Louis finds them battling in their bathroom as Harry tries to hold Sophie still to clean her fingers and face. She fights him the entire time and even shouts a few obstinate _no’s_ as she struggles out of his grasp. He only lets her go when he hears Louis laughing from where he’s leaned against the frame of the door watching them.

“She’s so mean sometimes,” Harry says, looking offended that she won’t allow him to clean her up. Louis drops a kiss to both of their curly heads when he comes in.

“She’s not being mean on purpose, she’s just hyped up on sugar,” he laughs, “And besides that, she’s just going to get dirty again anyway. Let her run wild. It’s her birthday. Right, Soph?”

Louis scoops her up and blows against her cheeks to make her laugh. When he puts her back down he quizzes her like he has been doing for the past couple of days.

“How old are you today, Sophie?” She says something that sounds about right and holds up some fingers even though it’s way more than the two Louis has been coaching her to use.

“That’s better than what she said to Tom when he asked her,” Harry snorts. He stares after her as she runs through to their room and tries to open the door that Louis made sure to shut when he came in. Harry looks tired from baking all night. He’s been stressing out over this party and there’s icing in his hair that Louis is about eighty percent sure that he isn’t aware of, but underneath all of that he still looks happy.

Harry drops the towel he was using to clean her up and nuzzles into Louis’ neck when he stands.

 “Let’s just stay up here,” he whines. “Our guests can let themselves out and then we can all take a nap.”

Louis cackles when Sophie starts banging on the door with both hands, begging to be let back downstairs. “She’ll kill us both if you try to put her down for a nap right now. With any luck, the party will tire her out and she’ll crash early.”

“Let’s hope so,” Harry grins.

~*~

It’s a few weeks later when Louis is in Sophie’s room, attempting to assemble the children’s bed frame that she got for her birthday. She started trying to climb out of her crib about a month ago, so Lou and Tom suggested that they go ahead and move her to a real bed. Harry finds him squinting and cursing at the directions under his breath as he dubs them impossible to understand.

“Do you need any help?” Harry asks as he takes a seat beside him.

Louis needs all the help he can fucking get. Honestly, why do these instructions have to be so difficult to work through? It’s a bed not a rocket ship.

“No. I’ll figure it out,” he mumbles, even though he seriously doubts it from how long he’s been up here already. Harry raises an eyebrow like he knows Louis is about to say fuck it to the bedframe and just let her sleep on the mattress, but he says nothing as he continues to watch.

“What did you do with the crib?” he asks, looking at the spot where it used to be.

Louis sighs and falls back to lie on the floor in a brief moment of defeat.

“I moved it to the attic for the time being until we can find someone to give it to.”

“Oh,” Harry says, but the way he says it makes Louis cut his eyes over at him.

“What do you mean, ‘ _oh’?_ ” Louis sits up. “What’s wrong?”  

“Nothing, really,” he says, not meeting Louis’ eyes. “I was just thinking that maybe it’s not quite so bad that we can’t find anyone to take it… I mean, Sophie has definitely outgrown it, but, you know, we might need it again one day. It’d be kind of silly to buy a new crib later on when we have a perfectly good one already in the attic.”

It takes Louis a second to work out what the hell Harry is saying to him, but when he finally figures it out his heart momentarily stutters in his chest before speeding up and thudding against his ribcage.

“Haz. Y-You want to have another baby? With _me_?” Harry laughs loud enough to wake Sophie where she’s napping in their bed across the hall. Luckily, she doesn’t hear him.  

“Well, yeah, with you. Who else?”

Louis doesn’t know. He doesn’t even know why he asked that. He’s honestly still reeling over the fact that Harry wants to do this all a second time. “Haz, you really want to do this all again?” Louis thinks about their lives with Sophie; about the long nights and early mornings. The tummy aches, toothy smiles, and big hugs she gives them whenever they enter the room. Louis cherishes it all, he just never gave thought to maybe doing it all again, that is until now.

“Well, probably not tomorrow,” Harry smirks, “But yeah. Of course I do. I love you and Sophie so much. Having a bigger family one day would be amazing, _especially_ with you.” Louis feels the back of his throat burning when Harry takes his hand and links their fingers together. _Another baby_. “What do you think?” he implores with those big green eyes that have always been Louis’ source of weakness. “Would you want to?”

Louis looks around the room, picturing the crib reconstructed and standing back in its original spot with another baby sleeping in it. They got Sophie in a turn of events that still makes his heart ache to think about. He never expected to have a family this soon in life and he wasn’t at all prepared for the way things happened, but the thought of adding to their small family makes him excited for the future.

“We’re not talking about adopting a kid tomorrow, right?” he checks again. He laughs when Harry’s eyes grow wide as he quickly shakes his head. “Then I’d love to,” Louis tells him earnestly.

“Really?”

“Really,” Louis nods. “ _But_ I think there’s probably something we should do first before we become the old lady in the shoe. I know that most agencies like for the adoptive parents to be in committed relationships or preferably married…it just so happens that I’d kind of like to have a husband, so.”

Harry meets his eyes with a wide smile. “When? Like tomorrow?” he laughs. Louis figured they’d eventually get married, but he doesn’t think it’ll happen within the next twenty-four hours.

“No,” he grins. “Not quite tomorrow, and probably not even next week, but you know, one day? That’s okay, right?” Louis asks, unsure if Harry will accept his vague prelude to a proposal.

Harry nods as he leans in with a grin on his face. “One day sounds perfect,” he whispers. Louis holds onto it like a promise.

 

Winter 2017

Harry can’t believe that after he gave Niall and Liam so much shit about getting married in the dead of winter that he and Louis are doing the exact same thing.

Louis proposed nearly four months ago, and yes, being engaged was fun and exciting and all, but he and Louis have always been on the fast track of life, so the idea of a long, drawn-out engagement didn’t sit well with either of them. They already have a kid and a house, and they’ve been living together like they’re married for over a year. They had planned to have a Spring wedding, but there’s still snow on the ground and the warm, Spring sunshine still feels like it’s ages away, so they agree to do it in January, just a few of weeks before Harry’s birthday.

They get married in the same little church as Liam and Niall all those years ago and kiss on the steps that Louis once tried to push him down, although he still maintains that it was just a joke and that he didn’t mean it. Every milestone they’ve encountered together has been done completely out of order, but saying ‘I do’ is one of those rare moments where everything feels _perfect_.

Harry loves their lives right now. He’s happier than he ever thought possible and he suspects that he has already been given too many good things, but even so, he can’t push his and Louis’ conversation about having another baby out of his mind. He can’t stop imaging Sophie with a younger sibling to play with or him and Louis up at all hours, rocking their new baby back to sleep after a night of being fussy.  Sophie’s getting older every day, and he doesn’t want her to grow up alone, and although having a toddler is an adventure in and of itself, he kind of misses having an infant in the house as well.

Harry never saw himself yearning for any of these things a couple of years ago, but lately it’s all he seems to think about.

He brings it up a couple of months after the wedding when they’re lying in bed together with Sophie between them. They’ve been having trouble getting her to stay in her own bed at night. She likes being close to him and Louis, always wondering where her dads are when she wakes up in the middle of the night and they’re not in her room. Everyone assures them that she’ll grow out of it within a couple of months and that she’ll start sleeping through the night again. Harry is sure that they’re right, but Louis reckons she’ll be twenty-eight years old and still sleeping with them.

Harry takes a deep breath, praying that this goes well.

“Louis? What would you think if we started talking about another baby soon?” he whispers, hoping that Louis hasn’t yet drifted off.

Louis’ eyes are closed where he’s resting on his back, but Harry knows he’s heard him when he smirks into the darkness. “What for? So neither of us can fit in the bed anymore?”

Harry stifles a laugh as he brushes a finger down Sophie’s arm. She usually wanders into their room around midnight and almost always taps Louis awake so that she can be lifted up onto their bed.

Louis opens his eyes and flips onto his side to really look at him. He looks tired from a long day at work and being woken up in the middle of the night by their daughter for the last two weeks, but Harry knows he has his full attention.

“Do you think it’s time?” Louis asks quietly.

Harry bites down on his lip with a shrug. Another baby is all he can think about lately, but he doesn’t want to pressure Louis into something he’s not ready for. “Maybe…I don’t know,” he lies, not wanting to seem too eager if Louis isn’t quite on the same page as him. “What do you think?”

Louis seems to think about it for a few moments. Sophie frowns in her sleep when Louis presses a soft kiss to her forehead, and he gently smooths out the crinkle between her eyebrows with his thumb.

He takes Harry’s hand and links their fingers over top of Sophie’s stomach where it rises and falls with each breath she takes. Harry can’t tame the smile that spreads across his face when Louis grins at him in the dark.

“I’m ready if you are, love.”

 

Summer 2018

Louis wishes he could grow an extra arm or two as he’s struggling to make it through the door with the pizza in one hand and Noah cradled in the crook of his other arm. He uses his foot to push the door closed and is just about to call out to Harry for some help when his ears catch the sound of his guitar floating down the stairs.

Louis holds off on interrupting him to listen to the beautiful melody he’s probably making up as he goes. The tranquility is short-lived though, because the next thing Louis hears is the sharp sound of Sophie’s little guitar as she plucks a million strings to try and copy him. Harry’s song comes to an abrupt end and Louis snorts at the sound of his husband clapping for her even though what she played sounded atrocious.

“We’re back!” Louis calls out now that he knows he isn’t interrupting them.

He hears the clang of Sophie’s guitar when it hits the ground and then the sound of her tiny feet moving overhead.

“ _Walk_ down the stairs!” Louis reminds her, fearing that she’ll be so excited to see him and her brother that she’ll disregard little things like safety in order to get downstairs as quickly as she can.

He expects Sophie to materialize in front of him from how fast her feet had been moving, but Harry must’ve intercepted her before she could make it down, because he’s holding her as they both enter the kitchen about a minute later.

“Hi, daddy!” she says with a big smile as soon as she spots him and Noah.

Louis kisses her when Harry brings her close enough.

“Hi, love. Were you having fun? Guitar practice sounded like it was going really well,” he smirks.

Harry coughs to cover a laugh and then discreetly pinches him for his sarcasm.

“She has _such_ promising talent for a three-year old. Isn’t that right, Soph?” Harry beams at her from where she’s still balanced on his hip and she nods along with her delusional father.

Louis has heard their daughter produce many sounds from that guitar, and not one of them has come close to resembling an actual note or a chord. He admires Harry’s persistence and enthusiasm, though.

“She’ll be the next Taylor Swift,” Louis says brightly, but he quickly amends his statement when Harry makes a face. “…Or the next Stevie Nicks since you’re apparently too cool for Taylor,” Louis rolls his eyes.

“Much better,” Harry smiles as he places Sophie down on the floor and takes Noah into his arms instead. “Did you two have a good trip?” Harry asks as he kisses his forehead. “How was he?”

“He was my little partner in crime of course,” Louis grins as he digs in the cabinets for plates. “Not a single tear shed the whole time we were gone. He was perfect.”

They adopted Noah and got to bring him home a couple of months ago from the same agency that Liam and Niall used to adopt Sophie. He cried a lot in the first few weeks, a lot more than either of them remembers Sophie crying when she was that age, but he has gotten better as he continues to adjust to his new life. Now at five months, he hardly ever cries unless he needs changing or he’s hungry.

“That’s great,” Harry says, this time dropping a kiss to each of his chubby cheeks.

Their son starts babbling about something when Harry smiles at him, clearly trying to have some sort of conversation even though he’s not saying anything even remotely close to words yet.

“What’s got you so excited?” Harry coos at him.    

“He wants pizza,” Sophie answers for her brother as she lifts up on her tippy-toes to see what’s going on with the food.

“I think _you’re_ the one who wants pizza,” Louis laughs. She’s been watching him divide the slices amongst their plates since Louis started. He picks her up to peer down at the two boxes. “Which kind do you want, love?”

She turns her nose up at Harry’s veggie pizza that’s covered with spinach and tomatoes and answers with a very loud and definitive, “Pepperoni.”

“Good choice,” Louis praises, watching as her eyes grow large when Louis finally places a slice of it on her purple zoo animal plate. “Can you walk with your plate and _carefully_ put it on the table?” Louis asks.

They usually don’t let her do that, but they’re having pizza so it’s not like she can make too much of a mess if she drops it, and plus, the plate is made of plastic so it’s not like it’ll shatter. She’s at that age where she wants to do things by herself. Louis thinks it’s awesome when she wants to brush her own teeth or pick out her own clothes for the day, but it mostly just hurts Harry’s feelings. Luckily, Noah still needs them for almost everything, so he doesn’t get as offended as he used to.

 Sophie assures him that she can handle taking her food to the table, so Louis hands it to her. She immediately takes off with it.

“Soph, what are you supposed to say?” Harry frowns at her lack of manners as he tries to call her back but it’s a lost cause. She makes it to the table and is already digging in, completely ignoring Harry’s attempt to get her to say thank you. In her defense she usually says it, but how much can they expect from her when there’s pepperoni pizza involved?

“Manners are overrated anyway,” Louis tells him. “Just like veggie pizza.”

He hands Harry a plate with a couple of his healthy slices and then gets a fresh bottle out of the fridge for Noah. Louis grabs a couple of slices of pepperoni and joins them at the table with Harry and Noah on his left and Sophie happily chewing in front of him.

“There’s nothing wrong with nutritious pizza.”

“Literally everything is wrong with it,” Louis tells him. Sophie proves his point when she finishes her first slice and asks for another.

“Do you want to try the veggie kind like Daddy has?” Harry smiles at her, taking a big bite of it and making a show of how good it tastes.

Louis cackles at his miffed expression when she says ‘no’ and even tacks a ‘thank you’ to the end.

“At least she used manners this time,” Louis snorts.

Harry gives him a look that says shut up. He doesn’t say it out loud because Sophie will repeat it. Louis continues to smirk at him while he gets Sophie another slice of greasy pepperoni.

~*~

It’s hours later when the kids are sleeping that he and Harry are lying sweaty in the center of their bed. Louis had thought something was up when Harry started getting Sophie and Noah ready for bed a bit earlier than usual, but he didn’t comment on it. They closed Sophie’s door and Louis quickly figured out what the rush was when Harry shoved him into their bedroom and immediately started undressing him.

Louis tilts his head to press a couple of kisses into his skin. “I hope you know that one day Sophie’s going to learn how to tell time and then it’s going to be a lot harder to convince her to go to sleep before she’s supposed to.”

Noah’s a baby so he sleeps all the time anyway, but lately Sophie doesn’t even want to wind down enough to take her afternoon nap. She’s a ball of energy and hates missing out on anything going on around her, even at night when he and Harry want to focus on one another.

“Luckily, we still have a couple of years before then. Lou and Tom are coming over tomorrow for movie night,” Harry reminds him. “We’ll have to ask their advice for how they find the time for sex,” Harry laughs.

Louis breathes a laugh to himself. “Well they obviously have a pretty good system going on since Lou’s pregnant again,” he points out.

She’s only about six months along and complains incessantly about not being able to drink, but she and Tom are thrilled to be having another baby. He and Harry are so happy for them. 

“Maybe we can make virgin cocktails for her tomorrow. That’ll cheer her up,” Louis suggests. “It’s not quite wine, but it’s as close as she can get for the next few months.”

“Okay. That’ll be fun,” Harry agrees. “We’ll look some up and I’ll go get the ingredients before they come over.”

Louis nods, liking the sound of that. He _hates_ doing the shopping, even if it is just for virgin cocktails.

He kisses Harry’s chest again before pushing himself up to find his pants. Sophie hardly ever wanders into their room anymore, but Louis still lives in constant fear that she’ll start up crawling into their bed again when they least expect it.

“ _No, not yet_ ,” Harry whines.

He stops Louis from leaving by curling up to him and resting his head on Louis’ chest instead. Louis fondly rolls his eyes at him, but firmly wraps his arm around him anyway.

“I was just going to throw on some bottoms.”

“But I like you naked,” Harry grins against his chest.

Louis laughs, because if it were up to Harry they’d never wear clothes. Louis kisses the top of his head before settling down into the mattress and squeezing him even tighter against him. He can never deny Harry anything, not even a night of sleeping naked.

“Thank you,” Harry breathes when Louis presses a kiss to the top of his head. “I love you.”

“Why? Because I’m letting us sleep bottomless?” he teases.

“No,” he shakes his head. “Because you’re amazing and I love you for it.”

He and Harry have only been married for a short amount of time, but they’ve been in each other’s lives for years, and just when Louis thinks he can’t love him anymore than he already does, Harry says something that makes his heart flutter in his chest.

Harry glances up to look at him and Louis’ chest tightens from the amount of love he feels pouring from him.

“I love you too, Haz.”


	10. Chapter 10

Epilogue

Harry walks into Noah’s room to find him and Louis wrestling in the empty space where his crib sat just hours ago. Harry had thought Louis was using this time to put Noah’s new bedframe together, but it seems he has taken a break to play a quick game of monster with their son instead.

“Daddy! Help!” Noah runs to hide behind Harry’s legs when he sees him enter the room. He peeks out at Louis like he’s completely hidden and Louis plays along, growling that he’s upset that Noah ran away and now he can’t eat him.

Noah waits until Louis’ back is turned before jumping out to attack him with a loud peal of laughter. Harry shakes his head at the pair of them, glad that Sophie is still playing with Lux over at Lou and Tom’s, because nothing in the world is louder than Louis, Sophie, and Noah playing a game of monsters on a Saturday afternoon.

“I came to see if you needed any help with the bed, but I guess you’ve been pretty distracted by all the human flesh,” he laughs.

“What do you mean? We’re getting _loads_ accomplished!” Louis says in a growl as he tickles Noah’s sides and pretends to gobble him up. Their son laughs so hard that he’s nearly breathless as he crawls away in surrender. Harry scoops him up and peppers kisses all over his flushed little face. He’s hot from playing so hard. Even Louis’ cheeks have a bit of color to them.

Harry glances around the nursery that used to belong to Sophie. He can’t believe they’re back here again, and based on the discarded instructions lying in the corner, Louis hasn’t gotten any better at assembling children’s furniture in the meantime.

Louis catches him eyeing the papers. “I swallowed my pride and called Tom,” he admits. “He said he’d come help me in a bit. I swear this bed is ten times more complicated than Soph’s ever was. It’s like they don’t want people to be able to assemble them.”

Harry breathes a quiet sigh of relief, because Louis is great at many things, but following written instructions isn’t one of them.

“That’s good. It’ll go a lot faster with the both of you working on it.” Louis nods and falls back to lie on the floor. Noah starts squirming to be put down when he catches Louis’ movement, so Harry places him on the floor. He expects him to run and jump on Louis’ stomach and resume their game, but Noah chooses instead to lie down beside him and wrap him in a hug. It’s ridiculously cute, and Harry’s heart melts watching them.

“Did you already take the crib outside?” Harry asks after a while. “I didn’t see it when I walked Sophie over to Lou’s.”

Actually, Harry didn’t even see Louis carry the pieces down the stairs. He must’ve done while he was dropping Sophie off for her playdate.

“No, I didn’t. I took it up to the attic.”

“Why?” Harry frowns.

Louis shrugs at him from where he and Noah are resting on the floor. “I don’t know... I didn’t want to throw it out just yet… I was hoping we might get some more use out of it.”

It takes a moment, but Louis’ meaning dawns on him when he sees a warm smile spread across his face.

“Y- You want another?”

Louis smiles down at Noah like he’s the best thing in the world. Harry knows because he often looks at Louis that way. “Well, we should probably wait until Sophie starts school, but yeah,” he smiles. “I’d like at least one more if you’re up for it.”

Harry is speechless, unable to believe that they’re having this conversation. They’re both making more money than when they first got Sophie so they could technically afford it. He and Louis have their faults and they’re not perfect by any means, but no one can deny that they are good parents and that they want the absolute best for their children.

Harry hadn’t said anything, but the thought of Sophie’s crib being thrown out had left his stomach hollow. He feels a million times better knowing that it’s still in the house even if neither of their kids are currently using it. The idea of dragging it back out to welcome a new member of their family makes his chest balloon with excitement.

“So what do you think?” Louis asks as he sits up, looking a bit nervous to hear Harry’s answer. Harry wouldn’t dream of saying no.

“I think three is a good, strong number,” he grins. “The best things come in threes.” He wants to save and frame the smile that spreads across Louis’ face so that he never forgets it.

“That’s true. Sophie _does_ love The Three Little Pigs, and triangles are the most stable shape known to man,” Louis points out, his random facts putting a bright smile on Harry’s face as he continues to rattle off other great things that come in threes, but Harry is barely listening.

Another baby with Louis... Harry can hardly wait. “ _Three kids_ ,” Harry breathes when his husband grins up at him.

Louis stands and crosses the room to pull him in by the waist. “Three kids,” he echoes just before their lips meet.

 

Winter 2020

Louis grins down Leah’s bottle at her big brown eyes as they curiously take in everything around her. The colorful lights on their tree hold her attention the most, but she’s also captivated by the sound of Harry and her siblings messing around on the couch with their instruments.

They each have a guitar in hand as they try to play Christmas songs for them. It sounds nice as Sophie and Harry softly strum in unison. Noah isn’t quite as skilled as his dad and big sister, so he plays more wrong notes than right ones, but Louis thinks it sounds good regardless. He gives his son points for originality.

“Are you going to play guitar one day too?” Louis coos at Leah when they finish their song. At the rate they’re going, he and Harry could start a full band in a few years. It worked out pretty well for the Jackson’s after all.

Harry overhears their little conversation and leaves Sophie and Noah to come stand over the armchair. He presses a kiss to Louis’ jaw and grins down at Leah who is now watching him with as much interest as Louis and the lights.

Her biological mother had already made the decision to give her up for adoption while she was pregnant, so he and Harry were able to start the paperwork early. Sophie was already a month old when Niall and Liam brought her home, and Noah had been about two months when he joined their family. They got to bring Leah home just a couple days after she was born, making her the youngest baby they’ve ever cared for together. Initially, Louis was nervous about having a newborn in the house, but Leah turned out to be the best early birthday slash Christmas gift he could’ve asked for. She’s perfect.

“I’m going to go get them dressed for bed,” Harry says before pressing another kiss to Louis’ jaw. “We have to get ready for Santa to arrive!” he says in the direction of their other two children who are old enough to know what that means. Sophie hops up with a gasp, knowing that the quicker they go to sleep, the better.

Louis smiles at the look of excitement on their faces and rolls his eyes at how bright his husband’s eyes grow as he watches them flit around the living room. He loves Christmas just as much as they do, and Louis loves him so much for it.

“Come on, Noah! Santa won’t come if we’re awake!” Sophie tells her younger brother.

Noah hurries to put down his child-sized guitar and runs after her up the stairs. They both shout ‘goodnight’s’ and ‘happy birthday’s’ to Louis as they race up to their rooms.

“God, I love Christmas Eve,” Harry sighs. “It’s the only night of the year where I don’t have to beg them to go to sleep.”

“You’re awful. You should love Christmas Eve because it’s the day I was born.”

“That’s the main reason that I love it. The fact that the kids put themselves in bed is an added bonus,” he smirks.

He bends down to connect their lips in a slow kiss that makes Louis grin against him. He gently takes Leah in his arms and presses a soft kiss to her forehead as he carefully heads up the stairs to put her in the crib and check that the other two are actually getting ready for bed.

“I’ll be up in a minute,” Louis tells him, already loosening the top of Leah’s bottle to go rinse it out for next time.

The kitchen looks like a bomb hit it from all of the day’s festivities, so Louis tidies up a bit while he’s in there, making sure to leave Santa’s cookies on the counter where Harry and the kids left them. He’ll be sure to come back and eat them later when Harry is busy piling their gifts under the tree.

He moves onto the kitchen table and smiles fondly at the handmade cards that Sophie and Noah gave him. Noah drew a picture of all of them, which is really just a collage of colorful blobs with eyes. Sophie’s is a bit more detailed, but it still makes him laugh because Harry’s hair comes down to his waist and Leah is literally the size of a sweet pea where she’s tucked away in Louis’ arms. He swipes his finger through the icing of the birthday cake that Harry baked this morning before placing it in the fridge. Louis uses magnets to stick his two drawings on the front of it.

By the time he makes it up the stairs Harry is just stepping out of Sophie’s room, so Louis decides to start his rounds there. He kisses her goodnight and she tells him happy birthday again along with a big hug around his neck. Noah says it too when it’s his turn for a goodnight kiss, and since Leah can’t say it yet, Harry does it for her after he stands up from her crib.

Louis is already feeling a bit overwhelmed by the amount of love he feels from his family, and just when he thinks he couldn’t possibly squeeze anymore joy to his heart, Harry walks him into their bedroom and slowly peels away his clothes. He whispers that he loves him before laying Louis back against the sheets, but he honestly didn’t need to say it when Louis can feel it in every touch.

“I think this is probably the best birthday I’ve ever had,” he says in a moment of pure contentment as Harry cards through his hair.

“Even better than the year you threw that party and you and Niall puked in the bushes outside of the nightclub?”

Louis has to stifle the laugh that bubbles up out of him from the memory. He almost forgot about that night. He was hungover for two days after it and vowed to never drink again.

“That birthday was definitely something, but I still choose this one.”

“Maybe I should ride you more often, then,” Harry smirks.

He really _, really_ should. Louis’ not disagreeing there, but that’s not the point that he is trying to make at the moment.

“I’m serious,” Louis tells him as he shifts onto his side to meet Harry’s eyes. “I’ve got Sophie, Noah, you, and now Leah. Our children are happy and healthy and now our family finally feels complete, and it’s- it’s better than I could’ve dreamed just being here. I’m so lucky and I love you all so much.”

Harry’s eyes turn soft at his words. “Well, we all love you right back, love. The kids adore you and I really don’t know what I’d do without you. I don’t even want to think about it,” he frowns.

Once or twice, Harry has expressed his fear of him and Louis potentially sharing a similar fate to Liam and Niall. He worries about Louis leaving him or the both of them being taken away from their kids before their time, and for someone like Harry who likes to control everything, it’s hard for him to trust that they can really be this happy without a price. They can’t control their lives any more than their friends could, but Louis has assured him that he’ll be here with him as long as he has the choice.

“Luckily, we’re in this together, love, so you don’t have to think about it,” Louis whispers before he kisses the worry off of his husband’s face and out of his eyes. He’s not planning on either of them going anywhere anytime soon. They’ve still got lots of things to do together.

Louis wonders every single day where he would be if things had happened differently for them; if Liam and Niall hadn’t forced them together like the annoying prats that they were. There was once a time where he and Harry couldn’t even have a civil conversation and now Louis honestly can’t imagine a life without him. He knows Liam and Niall never intended on leaving their daughter so soon, but he wonders if they knew what they were doing when they entrusted her with them.

Louis loves their three kids and their life and everything he and Harry have accomplished. It’s true that they wasted a lot of time in the beginning, but Louis thinks they’ve more than made up for it in the short amount of time they’ve been together. The two of them miss their friends every single day, but they also thank them just as often, because without Liam and Niall, they wouldn’t be here. They wouldn’t have this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The End

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to FallingLikeThis (Zayniam) for all the help and encouragement. You're the best! Also, thank you to LolaTommo for another great request and to anyone else who reads this! I hope you've enjoyed it :)


End file.
